Year-end climate reports show signs of a new and warmer normal that scientists say is likely to lead to more weather extremes.Link copiedSAVECreate your free profile or log in to save this articleJan. 28, 2022, 3:30 AM PSTBy Monica Hersher

Norbert Koll, a vacation-rental owner in Ahrweiler, Germany, said that record-breaking floods that struck the area last July “hit him like a brick.”

The flood filled homes with mud, destroyed roads and killed more than 200 people across Germany and Belgium, including an elderly couple staying in one of Koll’s rentals in Ahrweiler, about 100 miles west of Frankfurt.

Koll and his wife saw that a storm was coming when they checked radar maps earlier that week, but the magnitude of the flooding caught him by surprise.

“We didn’t expect the worst,” Koll said.