Severe storms are becoming more disruptive across southern Europe, with flooding now forcing large-scale evacuations and shutting down daily life in multiple countries, according to Euronews. 

What's happening?

Storm Leonardo is the latest extreme weather event to batter Portugal and Spain after weeks of heavy rain. In some areas, rainfall totals reached levels typically seen over an entire year in just one day. 

When the storm hit, thousands of people were ordered to evacuate across two countries as Leonardo brought intense rainfall, raising rivers such as the Sado, and widespread flooding, according to Euronews. In Portugal, a man in his 60s was killed after being swept away while attempting to drive through floodwaters near a dam in Serpa, as reported by the national civil protection authority. 

In Spain, the national weather agency AEMET placed parts of Andalusia under its highest red alert, warning of "extraordinary" rainfall and the risk of landslides.

AEMET spokesperson Rubén del Campo said the mountainous town of Grazalema recorded more than 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) of rain in a day, which is "the usual amount of rainfall in Madrid in an entire year," he said, per Euronews. 

Why is unpredictable flooding concerning?

Flooding events like this pose immediate dangers to public safety and threaten homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure.

For example, severe floods required evacuations in the U.S., Bangladesh, and Chile. Plus, the consequences often last longer after floodwaters recede. Repeated flooding events can damage infrastructure, contaminate drinking water, disrupt local economies, and drive up insurance costs, making recovery and rebuilding difficult. 

These threats increase when increasing global temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture, which can cause rain to fall harder when storms do hit, per Nature. To make things even more difficult, when extreme flooding occurs (especially back-to-back), people get cut off from power grids, as in Portugal.

What's being done to help those affected?

Emergency crews in Portugal and Spain have deployed thousands of responders to assist evacuation and restoration efforts as well as to rescue those trapped by landslides and falling trees. Officials have warned that additional periods of severe weather are to be expected in the coming days, but they will be milder. 

Generally, reducing the severity of flooding requires limiting factors that intensify extreme weather and strengthening community preparedness, for example, by investing in community solar. Readers can learn more about how storms are becoming more damaging by exploring critical climate issues. 

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