For Texans, a joyful day of fireworks and BBQs was disrupted by the devastating floods which swept across the Texas Hill Country on July 4. The source of the flooding was the Guadalupe River, which rose rapidly after days of rainfall. According to the Wall Street Journal “The search for those swept away by punishing flash floods in Central Texas over the holiday weekend took on new urgency Sunday, as the death toll climbed to 82…” This number is still subject to change. Hundreds of people have been rescued, and search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. Search efforts continue for a group of girls from a summer camp who were at camp during the floods. So how does climate change play into all of this? As our atmosphere continues to become warmer, it means that it can hold more moisture. This creates more intense rainfall during storms. And that results in increased intensity during natural disasters such as floods. 

While climate change wasn’t directly the cause of the floods, it played a role in making them worse and deadlier. The warmer sea surface temperatures in surrounding bodies of water and the Pacific Ocean have become hotter due to global warming, causing more moisture in the atmosphere. This laid the grounds for the deadly flooding in Texas. And this natural disaster is only one out of the many. These natural disasters are becoming more intense and worse due to climate change. According to this quote from World Wildlife Fund, “According to the IPCC’s [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] most recent report on climate adaptation, disasters fueled by climate change are already worse than scientists originally predicted.” The quote proves that natural disasters aggravated by climate change are becoming a bigger problem. And they threaten human life around the world. As natural disasters become more intense, they displace more and more people, not to mention the higher death toll. This results in large numbers of climate refugees, whose homes have been destroyed. You can check out the article on this blog about climate refugees to know more here. 

It isn’t just floods either. Wildfires are burning hotter and longer due to rising temperatures and prolonged droughts. Hurricanes are growing more intense as warmer oceans cause stronger winds and heavier rainfall. Heatwaves becoming more deadlier and more extended. And even more, which all illustrate how climate change is becoming worse and impacting countless lives around the world. The tragic floods in Texas are one example of a global trend which signifies the reality and severity of climate change. 

Sources

• NPR. (2025, July 5). Texas Floods Timeline. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2025/07/05/nx-s1-5457759/texas-floods-timeline
  
• The Wall Street Journal. (2025, July). Texas River Floods: Search and Death Toll Update. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/us-news/texas-river-floods-search-death-toll-8bef8045
  
• World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.). Is Climate Change Increasing the Risk of Disasters? Retrieved from https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/is-climate-change-increasing-the-risk-of-disasters