Man dies in Italy rains as 2021 climate losses top 2 bn euros

Rome, Nov 14 (AFP/APP): A man was killed on Sunday on the Italian island of Sardinia after strong rains, with an agriculture group saying the weather had caused more that two billion euros of damage this year.

The body of the elderly man, who abandoned his car when it got stuck in floods of water, was found on Sunday afternoon after firefighters carried out a search.

He was likely carried away by the strong floods.
Also on Sunday, Italy’s Coldiretti agricultural association said climate change was the cause of more than two billion euros ($2.3 billion) of damage to rural areas since the start of 2021.

There had been “1,914 extreme events” including floods, tornados, hail and heatwaves — “up 45 percent on the same period in 2020”.
The two billion euros of damage was split between losses to agricultural output and damage to countryside buildings and infrastructure, the group added.

“In Italy, too, we face the consequences of climate change,” Coldiretti said, warning of increasingly frequent extreme weather as the country suffers “tropicalisation”.

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