America’s summer of floods: climate crisis fueling barrage, scientists say

Yellowstone, Death Valley, Kentucky - experts say extreme rainfall spurred by global heating is rendering historical norms obsolete

An entire building and roads washed away by raging waters in Yellowstone. People desperately swimming from their homes in St Louis. Dozens dead after torrential downpours in Kentucky. The summer of 2022 has been one of extreme floods in the US, with scientists warning the climate crisis is worsening the devastation.

The deadliest of the recent barrage of floods, in Kentucky, was described as heartbreaking" by Joe Biden as he surveyed ruined houses and inundated cars on Monday. At least 37 people died after five days of pounding record rain washed down mountainsides and drowned entire towns, an event that scientists say is a once in 1,000 year occurrence.