Search icon

News

23rd Feb 2018

These Irish counties will be hit the hardest by ‘extreme’ weather

This sounds awful

Olivia Hayes

Well, this isn’t great.

A new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, has found that Irish counties including Cork and Dublin are expected to be hit harder with extreme weather than previously thought.

The analysis found that Cork, Dublin, Waterford and Derry among those to be worst affected by flooding.

The study, which was carried at Newcastle University, looked at changes in flooding, drought and heat waves using new technology.

black and-white, clear, cool

Ireland and the UK proved to have the worst flood projections, with 85 percent of UK cities with a river predicted to overflow.

European capitals including, Dublin, Helsinki, Riga, Vilnius and Zagreb are likely to experience the most extreme rise in flooding, with a high risk also in places such as Cork, Derry, Waterford, Wrexham, Carlisle and Glasgow.

Low-risk cities include Derry, Chester, Carlisle, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Newcastle.

blur, cars, dew

Prof Richard Dawson, who co-authored the study, said that vicious droughts are also on the horizon in Europe.

“Although southern European regions are adapted to cope with droughts, this level of change could be beyond breaking point.”

He has noted that there is an “urgent need” to redesign cities in order to adapt with harsh weather conditions.