Skip to Main Content

Daniel Swain finds human-caused climate change has doubled the chances of megafloods

Publication: LAist

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: Not every climate change-fueled severe storm will cause a megaflood. Megafloods are considered to have a 1-in-1000-year chance of occurring any year. 

UCLA News: But a recent study led by Swain found out human-caused climate change has doubled the chances of megafloods. He compared these megafloods to the 1862 floods which covered Southern California, the Southland’s three major rivers — the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana. Those rivers and the swing from drought to flood literally shaped the Southern California landscape for millennia.

Read more at LAist.