Italy suffered 122 extreme weather
events in the first five months of 2023, a 135% increase on the
52 registered in the equivalent period last year, Legambiente
said in a report released on Wold Environment Day on Wednesday.
Scientists say that extreme weather events like heat waves,
supercharged storms, flooding and droughts are becoming more
frequent and more intense because of climate change caused by
human greenhouse-gas emissions.
The environmental association said the report was a "clear
message" to the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni about the
need to tackle the climate crisis.
The report said flooding caused by torrential rain was the most
frequent of the extreme events, with 30 cases in the January-May
period this year, compared to 16 in the first five months of
2022.
It said Emilia Romagna, Sicily, Piedmont, Lazio, Lombardy and
Tuscany were the regions hit hardest.
Recent disasters linked to extreme weather include the flash
flooding that claimed 15 lives in Emilia Romagna last month and
last November's landslide on the Gulf of Naples island of Ischia
that killed 12 people.
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