Floods and storms put 400,000 Europeans at risk in world's fastest-warming continent last year

A woman rests as residents and volunteers clean up an area affected by floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, last November. The joint report from the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation singled out the flooding in the region last summer. File photo: AP/Alberto Saiz

Storms and flooding put more than 400,000 Europeans in nature's firing line in 2024, with at least 335 deaths, as the fastest-warming continent grapples with the growing threat of climate change.

The latest data show that an east-west divide is opening up in Europe with “extremely dry and often record-warm conditions in the east, and warm but wet conditions in the west”.