Devastating floods like Pakistan’s will be more common in a warming world

During a visit to Pakistan this week, António Guterres, the un secretary-general, said he had “simply no words to describe” the harm inflicted by the floods that have submerged the country during the past month. Numbers can at least quantify the extent of the disaster. More than 1,400 people have died and 33m have been displaced; 1.7m homes have been damaged. Half of the country’s cotton crop has been washed away, and this year’s wheat production could be largely written off. The government estimates that the floods will cost $30bn (9% of gdp).