Calculation of climatic disasters in Italy: in the last 43 years more than 100 billion euros in damages

Floods, hail and hurricanes. But also heat waves and drought. It is the “skin” of extreme weather events that affect our country more and more. The extreme alternation we see so well these days that is becoming increasingly dangerous due to the “multiplier” effect of human-caused climate change and runaway use of fossil fuels.

Can frequency and impact be measured? Yes, scientists do it with increasing precision. Today the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (CIMA) published new data. According to Sima, between 2022 and the first five months of 2023 alone, 432 extreme weather events were recorded in Italy.

Official data records 310 extreme weather events on Italian soil in 2022 that also cause 29 deaths. In the first five months of 2023 alone, there was a +135% increase in adverse events compared to the same period in 2022: 122 extreme weather events between January and May. Floods in Emilia-Romagna last May alone caused 17 victims and damage of about 10 billion euros.

If we extend the time frame, we discover that in the past 43 years, between 1980 and 2023, Italy recorded more than 22,000 deaths related to extreme weather events (excluding deaths related to heat waves), with the total damage bill exceeding €100 billion.

Cima’s president, Alessandro Meani, puts the data into context: “The weather scenario in which we are experiencing alternating extreme heat, cyclones and anomalous rains is an unmistakable sign that we are about to break the millennial equilibrium capable of upsetting our way of life.” Miani speaks of a “significant decline in our quality of life”: “These environmental and climatic variables affect the health of citizens, and therefore the issues must become a priority for decision-makers who are expected to get immediate answers and solutions, as a result of courageous decisions made with a medium-term perspective.”

An international research body, Climate Central, published last week an attribution study linking these days extreme temperatures to climate change. According to researchers, the probability of heat waves hitting Europe has increased at least three times due to climate change. The factor rises to 5 for Italy and Spain. The temperatures are also rising due to the return of the El Niño phenomenon, an atmospheric phenomenon that develops in the Pacific Ocean and heats the globe in a cyclical manner, but also due to the multiplier effect of climate change.

Extreme heat is also a determining factor for turbulence: the higher the temperature, the faster the water evaporates and the atmosphere is able to absorb more moisture. This leads to more intense and dangerous rain (or hail).