List of 15 most devastating climate events includes B.C. flooding, heat wave
Two climate events that claimed lives in British Columbia are ranked among the world's most devastating this year.
A just-published report highlighting what it calls the 10 "most financially devastating" climate events in 2021, and five other significant incidents of extreme weather, includes this summer's heat wave along the west coast of North America, and the flooding that followed relentless rain across the southern half of B.C. in the fall.
The report from U.K.-based Christian Aid, an anti-poverty organization that calls itself "part of a wider movement for social justice," ranked events based on their associated costs, and while the total toll of B.C.'s most recent natural disaster is still being calculated, it was high enough to make the top 10.
On that list was a mid-November storm that dumped a month's worth of rain on the province and resulted in weeks-long closures of major routes into and out of the most populated parts of B.C. Following the initial storm, there were several more days of heavy rain, associated with weather phenomena called "atmospheric rivers," causing further flooding and damage.
Several people are known to have died in a mudslide caused by the extreme weather, and 15,000 were forced to flee their homes. Tens of thousands of livestock died when a lake drained in the 1920s reformed as a Washington state river leapt its banks, spilling into the low-lying land.
According to the report published Sunday and titled "Counting the cost 2021: A year of climate breakdown," the cost has been estimated at $7.5 billion in insured losses.
Based on the ranking, it was the fifth most-expensive climate disaster in the world this year.
Those behind the report, as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, blamed climate change, saying that as global temperatures rise, the atmosphere holds more water vapour, leading to heavier downpours.
The top 10 list included only events with estimated costs of $1.5 billion or more.
Hurricane Ida, one of the largest ever to make landfall in the US., was at the top of the list, with a cost estimated at US$65 billion.
A million people lost power and thousands were forced to move. Flash flooding was reported in multiple states, and 95 Americans died.
Also on the list, ranked not by dollar amount but listed chronologically, were the March floods in Australia, which displaced about 18,000 people, a cold snap in France and a cyclone that hit India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, killing 198.
Those behind the report also highlighted a cyclone that killed 19 people in India and Bangladesh, mass flooding in Europe that claimed 240 lives, and a winter storm in Texas that claimed at least 215 lives. Flooding in China left 302 dead and more than a million people displaced, and a cyclone-prompted flood in China, the Philippines and Japan left five dead and caused 72,000 to flee their homes.
The report also looked at five other events, which carried a lower financial cost but still had a devastating impacts. On that list was the heat wave that hit the west coast of North America, including British Columbia, over the summer.
In the U.S. and Canada, a total of 1,037 people died as temperatures sored upwards of 40 C in some spots. The most recent data suggests nearly 600 of those people lived in B.C.
The unprecedented weather brought days of record-breaking heat, and likely led to the deaths of more than a billion marine animals, according to one estimate cited in the Christian Aid report.
The study's authors, Kat Kramer and Joe Ware, also highlighted the Parana river drought, South Sudan floods, Lake Chad crisis and East Africa drought on their list of other extreme weather events this year.
In a news release issued when the report was made public, Kramer called the costs of climate change "grave" both in terms of death and displacement and on a financial level.
"Be it storms and floods in some of the world's richest countries or droughts and heat waves in some of the poorest, the climate crisis hit hard in 2021," Christian Aid's climate policy lead said.
She and others with the agency noted some progress at this year's United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow, but said more action is needed to help those impacted by weather events like those witnessed in the last 12 months.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.