Part of a whole system which believes his time has come with chinas president , she ging ping starts july 30th on dw the memories are still vivid. On may 29th, 2016 disaster struck the village of pounds back and south western germany. Oh the cut us off herself. I literally watched the floss away from the debris, heading towards manning, the floor. We read it made a noise as well lunch and i couldnt figure out what it was exactly. Then i realize how to help the whole house was shaking policy post mary hung cash film, the catastrophe unfolding in front of him to do it once in. Its in st, completely insane. Before you know, the Emergency Services cant do any. This is not impossible, right now was out of the question. My god. Se pounds bottle via financial kill. I was in shock. I couldnt even begin to process what i was saying. Missed i know, although no lives were lost. The flood left, the village devastated. This is so terrible. Im speechless of the mobile. People have never seen anything like it. A few years later, germany suffering the effects of a different kind of extreme weather. In 20182019 temperatures rose above 40 degrees celsius in the summer with no rain for months on end rivers tried up a disaster for the local environment and its inhabitants yacht and last year there was no rain full here in the region for more than 70 day hine. And then in summer 2021. The, our valley in western germany was hit by flash flooding lets, as you looked at and all of a sudden we were confronted with issues that wed always thought only affected somewhere else in the world. In places like bangladesh. Dramatic, whether fluctuations have become commonplace. What does the future hold and what do we need to do to cope with Climate Change . Ah ah, we begin our research and didnt have work in the home secretion. An idyllic spot at the foot of the stone via forest. On june 5th, 20215 weeks before the flooding in the eye valley, a summer storm reeked havoc here. The picturesque village was overwhelmed, and york and bowmans home was among the many destroyed. He and his wife, marianna, will never forget that day, a traumatic experience thats edged in their memory. The basement was completely flooded. The couple had only just finished renovating their home. And now had to start all over again from scratch. They own a heating installation business, so at least they could do a lot of the work themselves at near the rollers on the farthest, murphy up for if we just got everything finished in here, mom with 5 or 6 years ago, wed fitted the house out with external thermal insulation for Energy Efficiency and switched from fossil fuels to an air to water heat pump in side. Yet we done the garden too, and were actually looking forward to concentrating on other things. Agnes, i was low to that, make a lot of them. That was it wasnt to be after hours of torrential rain fall over the local forest hills, the village was hit by a deluge em i quickly. Balloon doesnt come. I cant get the images out of my hand is i often look at the photos we took. It really got to me stuffed, ah, marian bomb and still cant believe what happened. The rhine and the most, and often burst their banks. That villages that are nowhere near major rivers shouldnt be at risk of flooding. Local simply werent prepared the bomb and still havent gotten over the experience. Bush answered on to host and i was terrified that the front door would break and the water would rush in. From upstairs, we could see the pressure building. We could see the door was starting to give way is an architect the into was guns or the water was up to here. This year is was they go through anti yard was under water here a little. Nobody watched on winter book as situated in a valley in the hunts like mountains. The village is nestled in the stone by a forest, the source of the watcher that caused such damage. Forest landscapes. How fast water Storage Capacity soaking up heavy rainfall like a sponge. But in recent years, this has no longer been happening as efficiently as it used to van had pound batter is in charge of the local forestry service. He and his colleague michael fake are going to show us what the problem is. With the flooding, invent up or can other religious down in the valley is linked to the state of the forest. Its increasingly try here where theyre digging. Even the beach trees are showing signs of drought. Damage and beaches arent usually very sensitive. It actually rained a lot in the summer of 2021, but how much rain that the ground actually absorb . What if soon transpires not much at all . With the up, you can see its bone dry. What has child to become a long term problem . While she shifted donkey hutton, he and eric yawn in late last year. There was no rainfall here in the region for more than 70 days in the garage. Can there cost alone area . It didnt rain for over a 100. 00 days. Yes. By the 1st of august 2021, there was still a deficit of over 250 liters per square meter meter. Hard to imagine a given the use overall, whether its fast, but it goes to show how severe the lack of rainfall has been in the last 3 years. Gosh, last if its either in and its in yon in ellipse and that ion anchorage vaughn, as hon. Back explains, there needs to be 2 months, a steady rainfall day and night to make up for the drought of recent years. He also says that the forest needs to be managed differently in the past water used to be trained from the forest these days he and his team are laying pipes and taking trenches in the zone fight in order to replenish the watershed and retained the water that collects on the logging roads, but the aim is to ensure it seeps into the ground across the forest instead of flowing into the valley and causing to watch or waste there to post their bank live out of your home yos their feet of better all here am the one vote back loy for de la. There are lots of stream, sir. In the soon vas idol. The elbow convey the grave and bark, and it was striking how quickly their water level was rose in just a short space of time here in the soon vault just when it rained a massive amount of water collected in a concentrated area, the equity. It was pretty frightening in its own boat wonder composite ispa was a song being seemed when the storm head, the forest couldnt absorb the torrential rain. The logging, roads were crippled and had to be rebuilt. Now deeper trenches and larger pipes have been put in place to reroute heavy rainfalls to points in the forest where cans deep into the ground. Yet i shall dammit dustbin. These are up, flush bits and patient couldnt. What that does is avert excessive ronald and allow groundwater to replenish lungs. Im on the water is distributed slowly and steadily across the forest floor. I where its absorbed, who causes in terms of the local ecosystem. It means theres enough water to sustain the forest as a natural resource. Again, leaving squalid happenings as, as leaves from florida to fulfill it found had found better planning to upgrade the whole forest. This way. Its a small but significant way of helping to reduce the effects of extreme weather. The next up on our Research Trip is in northern germany. Every year hamburg host the extreme weather congress. It brings together weather and climate researchers as well as environmental activists. The event aims to reach as many people as possible in the process, raising awareness of Climate Change and the need to act an urgent priority. Not only from each rather just spend praga, but also politicians and the likes of mo. She play chief, one of germanys leading climate researchers. The 2021. Congress was overshadowed by the events in the us valley can if we need chain mission, the choice isnt between more or less climate protection. That between proper radical, sustainable climate protection and climate disaster. Thats where we are at the um, friday for future. Yeah, theres fridays for future, i think. And in 2019, there was more discussion of the climate and the environment than theres ever been before. But in 20. 19 that same year before the pandemic hair toys, we also took more cruises and more flights than ever before. That theres a huge cognitive dissonance going on. And if we really want to get anywhere, then we need to have the courage to change. And tom, these are the, gets in the, the experts attending the event are unanimous. Those drought and flooding will become increasingly common of the islands i to indies a talk. My father will be with us yet, so i told him after a law insane. On the one hand, there are protracted dry spells as we saw in 2018, 2019, and 2020. And these werent balanced out. And theres always been the occasional dry year. But the about 3 in a row is conspicuous vilegas were done, and on the other hand just gave we can expect to see increasingly frequent storms and heavy rainfall. Im very slow moving storms and flash flooding from that. In general, the weather is becoming more extreme, but thats the bottom line. I love to help. While we were at the congress, we heard about an Ambitious Research project looking at extreme weather in this way, be in mountains. 10 German Research institutes are pulling their resources including cloud and precipitation radars and lasers in order to explore the complex processes that occur in the atmosphere. Basic Scientific Research that allows them to better protect extreme weather events and their consequences. These scientists are waiting for stormy weather. This may be an abs or germanys main storm hot spot and storms are a key aspect of extreme weather. Professor americans is a meteorologist with other laza trauma as i were going to blow up a balloon. So well be ready if a storm starts to breathe. Gentlemen, weve already set up the probes. So now were going to load the balloons in the car, 6 or 7 of them, fixed and then well drive right into the store. The balloons are filled with helium. Theyll carry small probes into the clouds and will enable the scientists to observe. Hale formation occurring during the storm. Hill is a typical feet of extreme weather. The team are excited. The clouds are gathering after hours of waiting, they now need to act fast. Before they head into the storm me here, quince visits, the lab to check the clouds activity. Which direction are they drifting in and is the upwind or convection Strong Enough to carry the probes into the storm clouds with only georgia, like you saw doctor does when he convection and shows a powerful lift off. When the rain forms it falls. Moral as vertical to the points where the up wind is basically it suppresses the op wednesday. So, and that means that the standard lifetime of a single cell is on average 30 minutes to an hour because it destroys itself as it was. He says, cup would get all that makes it all the more important to release the balloons in the right place at the right time. Outside the storm cell is getting stronger. Its time for the scientists to launch their balloons. Right here. Positioned inside cuts the probes measure temperature and air pressure, as the balloons drift upwards through the storm. Precisely where hale storms are forming inside the clouds. Mckerick once can follow the action in real time signal. Weve got a signal. Are we going to you 3 balloons, because the rains got worse and we hope theyll take off yet. Ive got a signal off. We go one last on stop. Have lisa and the probes are inside the clouds, taking the pulse of the storm as it were. You for you. What are your thought met life . I thought fortunately, were not in the middle of the storms out. There are 5 centimeter hailstones coming down from the middle and then give our cars are good bashing on the top with. From here me here, concent his team can collect a wealth of useful data that will help predict extreme weather events. Were planning to visit him in his lab and class. Were in a few weeks time back inventor book. The bowmans are still dealing with the flood damage. Its the weekend, but instead of putting their feet up, theyre hard at work trying to make their home livable again. Juergen bowman is haunted by memories of last july, when a gaping hole suddenly appeared in his yard. And thought to form alcohol or wild if there was a power cant because all the sockets were under water lorne on. It was like being on a house boat or as well as of miles or so what exactly happened as i rather than i live by. I was back of omen. Well this here is an old stream tunnel and there was so much pressure from underneath that he got pushed up with a self supporting structure. And when he got pushed up it one stone breaks off and the structure collapses. Briscoe, a film shot on his mobile phone shows the thing called that resulted right in front of his house. I 1st law got employees have worked with a hole in the garden, got bigger on there now, solid wood garden bench, got pulled into the current, got turned in circles water and was washed away by them. That was the point when i said to my husband, roger, okay, now im frightened. My father rakish, ucsd through olive enamel offers one. It all disappeared into the whole of the lavonne of the hall. The chairs are terra cotta. Ornaments of it all got washed away from her. What happened here was nothing in comparison to the disaster in the our valley actually rambled. There was some damage. Its bad, its a problem, but at least no one was heart. Gluck crank lynch, defrauded from the r valley floods in july 2021 claimed 133 lives with 700 people left injured and 42000 others also affected. They were among the worst bloods and german history in the space of just a few hours. It rained as much as it usually does. In months. The German Meteorological Service called it unprecedented. Insurance company said it was the most expensive weather related incident in 50 years. Was damages totaling an estimated 10000000000 euros. Just Climate Change means that such events are likely to become more frequent. We meet upper geographers trauma, hug and camp, and theresa shed idle in the village of my shots and the, our valley. They are trying to establish the precise water levels that occur during the flooding. Not easy, given that many of the water gauges along the river got swept away. Experts rely on them to analyze and predict flood events. Give us a standardized warden. What else . The a presidio highest warden had a little from his head which pianist from one country directly to water levels on the outflow far exceeded any flooding that happened since records began fivefold human. And you know, we havent seen water levels like that in recent history. And, but if you look at the history of the, our valley, india. And you can see that in fact, these extreme events did occur. They were very rare, but not on known. Overcome in 18 o 4, there was flooding in the our valley that caused similar damage. Done obviously on a smaller scale because at that point to the valley was less built up top. That of piled on myself. Nice little in about farm. Here in my shows, the storms swept away a number of houses and destroyed the local train line. Complete with most bridges, theresa title and tomas logan camp from the university of bon are using a fyodor light, surveying tool to measure maximum flood heights across the valley. It helps them identify precise watcher levels at precise geographical location. With the brown color of this facade shows just how far the washer road thomas southern camp has been researching the history of blood in the, our valley. For many years. This time, the watcher here with 10 meters higher than its normal level. The script a hope or soc is equal carton. The lesson, they can find the fisa falling in deutschland or, and theyre all flawed. Risk matters for all of germanys river hub. But clearly theyve not been adequate latin vs on feel on the basis of these matters. There are plenty of places where you could reasonably decide to put up new buildings. Who are these maps dont include historical flow, doesnt help us on the woods level record and that are available. They fact just 50 or 60 years out of my phone in that short time frame to reflect extreme. Then it was, i say, extra emma . I grew up to bill, please maps has since been updated and now include Historical Data too. But what world Climate Change play in the our valley disaster was that the ultimate cause in the pond there, i would argue that this is gale of the flood is not necessarily Climate Change related. Its good. I think it in terms of the frequency. Well, if its in other words, how often such events occur, which ones are you could argue with changing weather conditions. Does that mean the floods now occurring more frequently . And thats a consequence of Climate Changes. Climate change increases the likelihood of such events occurring more frequently as demonstrated by a recent study conducted with the participation of the German Meteorological Service. Yet the question remains. Why is why theyre becoming more extreme . We meet spend prayer at the Weather Center of germanys main public broadcaster some 35 forecasts are produced for weather bulletins here every day of our music to clear that job includes analyzing maps and figures not only the t v weatherman has observed that a number of weather phenomena have become increasingly common from the focus until here as much of it does as if the noise here is at 50, not went on. Oh, okay. Are yeah, no, he got tells us about the standing ways phenomenon, High Pressure and low pressure. France that dont actually move. It explains the devastating storms and the r valley does dawn via an pounds, but its highly uncommon for high and low pressure. France to be stationary. But its become a feature of current weather patterns. I give it of us seed for dorms that move, distribute rain across a wide area, but if they dont move, the impact is concentrated in one place. So theres extremely heavy rainfall. Conflict. If the High Pressure front doesnt move than we have the high temperatures and drought, we saw in 2003 or 2018 implement. At the moment were seeing more frequent standing waves and also more frequent stationary highs and love was to ease of use. So thats a hypothesis thats being investigated right now in law in scientific terms. Its not straightforward. The Natural World is always complex, though i am far according to pick a Climate Change as exacerbating the frequency of standing waves of air meteorologist and storms researcher mac once agrees where meeting him at his research institute. Ah, he said at the center dedicated to analyzing natural disasters, he and his team evaluate extreme weather events ar