Over two weeks ago, the government's chief scientist warned that for the UK, flash floods were likely to be the biggest immediate problem caused by global warming. Sir David King told a committee of MPs that the country would have to prepare for extreme weather such as heat waves and "torrential downpours". Two weeks later, large areas are counting the cost of worst flooding this country has seen for over 50 years.
Five people are believed dead as a result of the flooding. As I write, the army has been mobilised to help emergency efforts and two more rivers have broken their banks as waters continue to rise.
No-one can say for certain whether the cold and wet record-breaking whether we've experienced this June in the UK is a direct result of climate change but experts agree that the sever storms and flooding will become more frequent as temperatures rise.
Even the tabloids are linking the storms to climate change. The Mirror reported that "Flood damage is becoming more common because of global warming" while warning that insurance companies will increasingly refuse to insure homes built on flood plains.
While the met office warns of further storms to come during the next week, Sir David King warned that in the long-term, as Greenland ice disappeared, rising sea levels would wipe out Britain's coastal town and cities.
"The message that climate change is the biggest change our civilisation has ever had to face up to is getting out there. It's almost become fashionable to talk about it, but fashions come and go," he said and warned that the current interest in global warming had to be more than a passing fad.
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