Extreme rains cause flooding in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, killing 14

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🗞️ Driving the news: Parts of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey experienced violent storms characterized by extreme rainfall
• This caused devastating floods that claimed the lives of at least 14 people and caused significant infrastructural damage, leaving many areas without power and clean water

🔭 The context: This catastrophic weather follows a summer of dry, parched conditions in some of these areas
• The sudden extreme rainfall is unusual for these regions—for instance, the Bulgarian coast received three times its monthly average rainfall in just 24 hours due to the storm front

🌎 Why it matters for the planet: Such severe weather fluctuations, moving from parched summers to intense rainfall, highlight the erratic patterns associated with climate change
• Experts find difficulty in linking singular weather events to climate change, but the overarching pattern indicates a shift in global climate behaviors

⏭️ What's next: Greece is bracing for continued heavy rainfall and storms that are expected to persist in several areas until Thursday
• Given the already saturated grounds, there's an imminent risk of more flooding

💬 One quote: "We’re accustomed to seeing more extreme weather due to climate change. But this is something else—an extreme, extreme weather event. We’ve never seen anything like it.” (Konstantinos Lagouvardos, National Observatory of Athens)

📈 One stat: Some regions, like the village of Kofi in Magnesia, Greece, received nearly 18 inches of rain in just 48 hours—to compare, Athens usually receives around 16 inches of rain over an entire year

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