Typhoons, storms and flooding have killed hundreds and left millions homeless [15] across four continents in recent days. More than 600 people—mostly in Vietnam and Myanmar—died when Super Typhoon Yagi [16], one of the strongest typhoons to hit Southeast Asia in decades, tore through the region, triggering landslides [17]. In China, Typhoon Bebinca [18] battered the commercial capital, Shanghai, forcing more than 400,000 people to evacuate. In Europe, at least 23 people died when Storm Boris [19] dumped five times September's average rainfall in a single week. In the United States, parts of North and South Carolina recorded 45 centimeters of rain in 12 hours [20]—a statistic so rare it's considered a once-in-a-thousand-year event. Inevitably, the wild weather has been devastating for more vulnerable countries. In conflict-affected northeastern Nigeria, half of the city of Maiduguri [21] is under water after a local dam overflowed following torrential rains; recently emptied displacement camps are being used to shelter the homeless. In neighboring Chad [22], meanwhile, flooding has killed more than 340 people in the country's south.
From The New Humanitarian [23], Sept. 20.
The proliferation of extreme weather events in recent years has been described as "global weirding [24]."
