BRUSSELS — Global warming intensified a series of torrential rainstorms that battered Spain and Portugal in recent weeks, new research has found.
Nine destructive winter storms hit the Iberian Peninsula with extensive flooding between mid-January and mid-February, killing six people in Portugal, forcing the evacuation of more than 12,000 people in Spain and leaving a trail of devastation across both countries.
The economic damage was significant: The Spanish government has already allocated €7 billion in relief payments to help people affected, while in Portugal the damage is estimated to reach €6 billion, equivalent to more than 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP. The Portuguese government has said the reconstruction cost will constrain the nation’s finances.
On Thursday, a team of international scientists published research showing that climate change intensified the rainfall in the Iberian Peninsula as well as neighboring Morocco, where the same storms displaced hundreds of thousands.
