A study by the World Weather Attribution team has revealed that climate change supercharged the intense rainfall that caused devastating coastal floods across West Africa starting June 20, 2026.
The deluge drenched densely populated coastal regions of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Nigeria under 140mm of rain in less than a day, killing dozens and displacing thousands.
Researchers determined that greenhouse gas emissions made this three-day downpour five times more likely and increased its intensity by roughly 23% since records began.
Scientists Call for Urgent Adaptation
With global temperatures now 1.4C higher than pre-industrial levels, scientists expect similar severe rainfall to hit the Gulf of Guinea region every two to four years.
Friederike Otto, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London, highlighted the urgent need for local adaptation alongside global mitigation efforts to cope with the rapid changes.
"The climate is changing faster than most nations can adapt," said Otto.
She warned that immediate action is necessary to prevent these extreme weather events from worsening in the near future.
"Adapting to these now common events is critical, but so is reducing emissions much further and faster, to allow us time to keep up with the changes we’ve already put into motion.
Quite simply, until emissions stop these extremes will only grow worse," said Otto.
To assess the impact of global heating, researchers compared historical data with climate models, which showed a 4% increase in rainfall intensity due to climate change.
Joyce Kimutai, a researcher at Imperial College London and lead author of the study, noted that finding such a clear link is significant despite the limitations of tropical climate models.
"Climate models typically struggle to capture the full scale of tropical precipitation trends when we look at extreme events like this one," said Kimutai.
She emphasized that the findings underscore the role of human activity in driving these destructive weather patterns.
"Combined with the very wetter trend in the observational-based data, it’s clear that human-caused warming made this event worse, and wetter, with devastating impacts," said Kimutai.
Kimutai also called for global accountability, noting that the nations suffering the worst impacts are often the least responsible for global emissions.
"This study is a clear example of the need for international cooperation on climate justice.
Industrialised nations have a responsibility to help nations like Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to adapt to a worsening problem that they didn’t cause," said Kimutai.
