Brussels, Apr. 15 (BNA): Europe faced its most widespread flooding last year since 2013, with 30% of the continent's river network hit by significant floods, scientists said on Tuesday, as fossil fuel-driven climate change continued to prompt torrential rain and other extreme weather.

Flooding killed at least 335 people in Europe in 2024 and affected more than 410,000, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation said in a joint report on Europe's climate.

Western Europe was hit hardest, with 2024 ranking among the region's ten wettest years in records going back to 1950. Storms and flooding are Europe's costliest weather extremes, last year causing damage exceeding 18 billion euros.

Globally, 2024 was the world's warmest year since records began, as well as the warmest for Europe, the planet's fastest-warming continent. The planet is now around 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than in pre-industrial times, mainly due to human-caused climate change.

Much of Eastern Europe was hit by a lack of rain and drought, while floods ravaged Western Europe. Nearly a third of Europe's overall river network exceeded a "high" flood threshold, while 12% breached "severe" flood levels in 2024.

H.K,S.A