Is Climate Change Causing More Floods?

The Midwest flooding is one of the worst floods to occur in 15 years. Water levels are receding, but not in enough time to save the livelihoods of the flood victims. According to Reuters.com, at least 24 people have been killed by the floods since May. The problems are not over as prices for commodities such as corn and soybeans continue to rise to astronomical levels. But the flooding in the United States is just one of many flooding events worldwide. Could the flooding be a sign of impending climate change?

The following excerpt is courtesy of Reuters. Read the excerpt and respond below.

Experts warn that climate change and economic development - particularly building along rivers and flood plains - will leave more and more people vulnerable to flooding in the years to come. Preparation has improved and death tolls are falling, but there are still many lessons to be learned.

2007 saw some of the worst floods in living memory, with communities from Britain to China, India and Uganda left struggling to clear up the damage. The poorer the affected populations, the harder-hit they tend to be. Certain weather configurations - particularly strong waves in the jetstream, high in the atmosphere - can lead to heavy downpours around the world. Climate experts say global warming could make the problem worse, but warn against attributing individual floods or disasters to climate change.

"You can't attribute particular events to climate change," explains Professor Colin Thorne, head of physical geography at England's Nottingham University. "But on the other hand, the conditions that promote serious flooding will become much more frequent than they are now, so the probability is we will have more extreme events."

Leave your responses in the forum. What do you think? Is climate change making flooding worse?