Flash floods kill thousands in Asia, the death toll from heatwaves in Mediterranean Europe soars. And experts say it's all due to global warming and demand urgent action.
Some scientists blame the La Nina phenomenon, an upwelling of cold water in the Pacific off the South American coast which produces unusually wet weather. But like its antithesis El Nino, neither is a new occurrence.
"El Nino and La Nina are themselves affected by climate change too - they are not new but are stronger and more frequent, causing more devastation than in the past," said Ms Stephanie Tunmore of Greenpeace. "Global warming does look like the obvious culprit."
On Monday, the US Vice President, Mr Al Gore, said July was the hottest month on record around the world. "July wasn't just the hottest July on record, it was the hottest month on record, period. You don't have to be a scientist to know it's been dangerously hot this summer," he said.
Mr Gore warned that the heatwaves, droughts, powerful storms and flooding that have struck parts of the United States and the world this year would get worse unless greenhouse gas emissions were controlled.
The Kyoto pact, signed last December, called for industrial nations to cut these emissions to an average of 5 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2010. While opponents of the treaty say it would hurt the US and favour developing nations, Mr Gore urged Congress to back the moves.
Some experts, however, think it may be too little too late.
Rains in South Korea have so far left 255 dead and caused at least $280 million in damage, the national disaster agency said yesterday as rain returned to the south-east of the country.
In China more than 2,000 people have died, mostly along the Yangtze river in central regions, according to a week-old official figure. Unofficial estimates put the toll much higher. In Cyprus the excessive heat had claimed 56 lives by Tuesday and in France police issued health warnings and smog alerts because of the high temperatures.
In Turkey, baking in a heatwave for two weeks, floods after heavy weekend rains killed at least 10 near the Black Sea coast and hopes faded for 30 more in homes buried by mud.