Shocking report reveals the cities most vulnerable to climate disasters

Daily Mail​

07-05-2025

A shocking report has revealed the 'sitting duck' cities which are most vulnerable to climate disasters.
The report, produced by the Financial Times, warns that Amsterdam, Houston, and New York City are among those at risk of being flooded while Austin is at high risk of fires
Meanwhile, several densely populated cities, including Lisbon, Naples, Athens, and Christchurch are at risk of both heat waves and flooding.
Worryingly, experts say they don't know when these disasters could hit.
Guillermo Rein, a fire sciences professor at Imperial College London, speaking to the Financial Times said: 'But at the global level, they are becoming more probable.
'In the next year there's going to be a big wildfire destroying a big community.
'But we have absolutely no idea where that is going to happen.'
Described by climate scientists as 'sitting ducks', scientists say that some cities have been 'lucky' to not experience an extreme climate event so far.
In these most at risk areas the natural geography, climate conditions, and city planning have combined to create an exceptional risk.
Yet many of these cities have already come close to complete destruction.
In August last year, Athens, which is home to 3.6 million people, narrowly escaped catastrophe as a wildfire reached the outskirts of the city.
The fire scorched 40 square miles of land northeast of the city, killing one woman and forcing thousands to flee their homes.
However, the flames stopped just short of entering the city centre where even more serious damage could have taken place.
Dr Thomas Smith, an expert on environmental geography from the London School Of Economics And Political Science, told the Financial Times: 'What was missing was the wind element.'
Had there been strong winds, like the Santa Ana winds which drove the Los Angeles wildfires, the situation might have been far more severe.
For sitting duck cities like Athens, a major risk factor stemsfrom their proximity to the wilderness.
As cities spread, they push further into the surrounding grasslands, forests, and fields where wildfires are more prone to start.
Scientists call this area the wildland-urban interface and estimate that it makes up about 4.7 per cent of the planet's surface.
In Europe, the wildland-urban interface covers 15 per cent of the continent and is home to more than 60 per cent of the population.
While climate change does not directly cause wildfires, it makes the conditions for intense blazes significantly more likely.
The risks of fire are increased by warming temperatures which create dry vegetation, and combined with strong winds the outcomes can be deadly.
The World Weather Attribution - a network of researchers from the U.S., UK and a number of other European countries - warned that the hot, dry, and windy conditions that drove the Los Angeles wildfires are about 35 per cent more likely due to global warming.
In the UK, unusually warm spring weather means the country has already passed the record for land destroyed by wildfires.
Since the start of 2025, more than 113 square miles of land has been consumed by fires across the country.
However, it is not only wildfires which pose a threat to sitting duck cities around the world.
According to an analysis by Moody's, a financial research firm, roughly 2.4billion people now live in areas that are at risk of inland river or flash flooding.
In the U.S., Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, New York, and Sacramento are all at extreme risk of flooding due to climate change.
Dallas is especially threatened by flooding due to the city's rapid growth.
As it has grown city planners have added concrete or asphalt areas which cannot absorb water meaning that when heavy rain comes, it runs off these impermeable surfaces and rapidly collects, triggering flash flooding.
In 2022, a sudden deluge of 38cm of rain in 24 hours triggered a flood which submerged homes and swept away cars.
Other cities considered sitting ducks for flooding include Amsterdam, Ahmedabad, and Buenos Aires.
Just like the risk posed by wildfires, the changing climate has made flooding not only more frequent but also more severe.
Following devastating flooding in Valencia, Spain last year scientists said that the catastrophic event was fuelled by climate change.
Dr Friederike Otto, head of the World Weather Attribution at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, said: 'No doubt about it, these explosive downpours were intensified by climate change.'
An increasingly warm climate has even made some cities vulnerable to wildfires and flooding.
Wildfires destroy vegetation such as trees which makes the soil less able to absorb water.
This means areas which have suffered wildfires are more likely to be affected by flash flooding if heavy rain follows.
According to research, the elevated risk of flooding can persist for up to a decade after a fire.
Cities considered sitting ducks for both fire and flooding are Lisbon, Athens, Naples, Cape Town, Sydney, and Christchurch.
Recent studies have found that a number of major cities, including Dallas, are now undergoing a process which is being called 'climate whiplash'.
This means they are facing both increasingly severe periods of dry weather and more extreme wet periods.
These cycles of drought and flooding make cities more vulnerable to climate disasters and give authorities less time to prepare for extreme conditions.