PARIS, Dec 27, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - From tiny and impoverished Mayotte to oil-
rich behemoth Saudi Arabia, prosperous European cities to overcrowded slums
in Africa, nowhere was spared the devastating impact of supercharged climate
disasters in 2024.

This year is the hottest in history, with record-breaking temperatures in the
atmosphere and oceans acting like fuel for extreme weather around the world.

World Weather Attribution, experts on how global warming influences extreme
events, said nearly every disaster they analysed over the past 12 months was
intensified by climate change.

"The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more
devastating than in 2024. We are living in a dangerous new era," said climate
scientist Friederike Otto, who leads the WWA network.

- Heat -

That was tragically evident in June when more than 1,300 people died during
the Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia where temperatures hit 51.8
degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit).

Extreme heat -- sometimes dubbed the 'silent killer' -- also proved deadly in
Thailand, India, and United States.

Conditions were so intense in Mexico that howler monkeys dropped dead from
the trees, while Pakistan kept millions of children at home as the mercury
inched above 50C.

Greece recorded its earliest ever heatwave, forcing the closure of its famed
Acropolis and fanning terrible wildfires, at the outset of Europe's hottest
summer yet.

- Floods -

Climate change isn't just sizzling temperatures -- warmer oceans mean higher
evaporation, and warmer air absorbs more moisture, a volatile recipe for
heavy rainfall.

In April, the United Arab Emirates received two years worth of rain in a
single day, turning parts of the desert-state into a sea, and hobbling
Dubai's international airport.

Kenya was barely out of a once-in-a-generation drought when the worst floods
in decades delivered back-to-back disasters for the East African nation.

Four million people needed aid after historic flooding killed more than 1,500
people across West and Central Africa. Europe -- most notably Spain -- also
suffered tremendous downpours that caused deadly flash flooding.

Afghanistan, Russia, Brazil, China, Nepal, Uganda, India, Somalia, Pakistan,
Burundi and the United States were among other countries that witnessed
flooding in 2024.

- Cyclones -

Warmer ocean surfaces feed energy into tropical cyclones as they barrel
toward land, whipping up fierce winds and their destructive potential.

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Major hurricanes pummelled the United States and Caribbean, most notably
Milton, Beryl and Helene, in a 2024 season of above-average storm activity.

The Philippines endured six major storms in November alone, just two months
after suffering Typhoon Yagi as it tore through Southeast Asia.

In December, scientists said global warming had helped intensify Cyclone
Chino to a Category 4 storm as it collided head-on with Mayotte, devastating
France's poorest overseas territory.

- Droughts and wildfires -

Some regions may be wetter as climate change shifts rainfall patterns, but
others are becoming drier and more vulnerable to drought.

The Americas suffered severe drought in 2024 and wildfires torched millions
of hectares in the western United States, Canada, and the Amazon basin --
usually one of Earth's wettest places.

Between January and September, more than 400,000 fires were recorded across
South America, shrouding the continent in choking smoke.

The World Food Programme in December said 26 million people across southern
Africa were at risk of hunger as a months-long drought parched the
impoverished region.

- Economic toll -

Extreme weather cost thousands of lives in 2024 and left countless more in
desperate poverty. The lasting toll of such disasters is impossible to
quantify.

In terms of economic losses, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re
estimated the global damage bill at $310 billion, a statement issued early
December.

Flooding in Europe -- particularly in the Spanish province of Valencia, where
over 200 people died in October -- and hurricanes Helene and Milton drove up
the cost, the company said.

As of November 1, the United States had suffered 24 weather disasters in 2024
with losses exceeding $1 billion each, government figures showed.

Drought in Brazil cost its farming sector $2.7 billion between June and
August, while "climatic challenges" drove global wine production to its
lowest level since 1961, an industry body said.