Study warns climate change will make extreme rain more common

EXTREME rain conditions similar to those linked to a fatal train derailment five years ago will become more common due to climate change, according to a new study.

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Researchers found that intense deluges like one that preceded a derailment at Carmont near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, which claimed three lives in August 2020 are between 15% and 20% more likely in future due to the warming environment.

Experts said that should the world warm by more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the likelihood of such downpours would increase by 30 to 40%.

Train driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died following the derailment on August 12 2020 while six people were injured.

A criminal prosecution saw Network Rail fined £6.7 million in 2023 after it admitted health and safety failings over the crash, which happened on a day of torrential rainfall.