Report: 34 hydrometeorological hazard events in 2023 impacted 25 million people

30 / 08 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

The South-West Pacific region is extremely prone to disasters associated with hydrometeorological hazards, especially storms and floods. Overall, 34 reported hydrometeorological hazard events in 2023 led to over 200 fatalities and impacted more than 25 million people.

About 34 reported hydrometeorological hazard events in 2023 – most of them storm or flood related – led to over 200 fatalities and impacted more than 25 million people in the South-West region, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 report.

Severe Tropical Cyclones Kevin and Judy were notable for making landfall on the island nation of Vanuatu within 48 hours of each other in March. Cyclone Lola, which made landfall in Vanuatu on 24 October, prompted the Government of Vanuatu to declare a six-month state of emergency in the affected provinces.

Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle brought significant rainfall, causing major impacts to the eastern North Island of New Zealand in February 2023.

Elsewhere in the region, Typhoon Doksuri brought heavy rainfall and flooding to the Philippines in July 2023, claiming at least 45 lives and displacing almost 313 000 people.

The year 2023 was substantially warmer than the previous several years in the South-West Pacific region, with the elevated temperatures associated with the transition from La Niña to El Niño conditions.

The mean annual temperature for the region was 0.29 °C [0.26 °C–0.33°C] above the average for the 1991–2020 reference period, making the year one of the three warmest on record, depending on the dataset considered.

Over the first four months of the year, rainfall was above average for much of the Maritime Continent, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands, in line with typical La Niña conditions. Conversely, in the last four months of the year, rainfall was below average for much of these regions.

The central Pacific Islands experienced a drier-than-average start to 2023 but received an above-average amount of rainfall in the latter part of the year, consistent with typical El Niño conditions. The most prominent and persistent marine heatwave in 2023 occurred in a large area around New Zealand.

This heatwave was categorized as extreme and lasted approximately six months. Sea levels continued to rise at rates higher than the global mean in several parts of the region.

In August, the deadliest single wildfire of the year globally occurred in Hawaii. At least 100 deaths were reported, the most in a wildfire in the United States of America in more than 100 years. Approximately 95% of WMO Members in WMO Regional Association V (South-West Pacific) provide climate predictions to support disaster risk reduction activities.

However, climate projections and tailored products are provided by fewer than 70% of Members in the region. These services in particular are needed to inform risk management and adaptation to and mitigation of climate change and its impacts.

“Climate change has become a global crisis and is the defining challenge that humanity currently faces. Communities, economies and ecosystems throughout the South-West Pacific region are significantly affected by its cascading impacts. It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

“The ocean has taken up more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases and is undergoing changes which will be irreversible for centuries to come. Human activities have weakened the capacity of the ocean to sustain and protect us and – through sea level rise – are transforming a lifelong friend into a growing threat,” she said. “Already we are seeing more coastal flooding, shoreline retreat, saltwater contamination of freshwater supplies and displacement of communities.”