Nearly seven in 10 Californians have said they expect the recent extreme swings in the US state’s weather to become more commonplace in the future due to climate change, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, showed that only 19 per cent of the respondents believe the recent extreme swings in the weather will not likely to be repeated in the near future while another 12 per cent have no opinion, reports Xinhua news agency.
Significant flooding is ongoing in some areas in California, which has experienced a multi-year extreme drought.
The poll also found that nearly a third of Californians say that the past year’s unusually wet weather, which produced heavy rains, record snowfalls and flooding in some areas, impacted themselves or their families either “a great deal” (8 per cent) or “somewhat” (23 per cent).
In addition, a sizeable proportion (40 per cent) of those who reported being impacted a great deal say they are very concerned that they may need to move out of their area due to the risk of similar weather occurrences in the near future.
“The poll suggests that most California voters are taking the impact of extreme weather seriously and are concerned about the impact of climate change on their daily lives,” said IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler in a news release.
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