When our climate change is hitting back hard, everybody is shocked. Four days of intensive rain, which in the popular media is named a “water bomb”, have redrawn the landscape in Central and Eastern Europe. It also dramatically changed the lives of millions of Europeans. The damage amounts to tens of billions, of which the EU has already pledged 10 billion. In his opinion piece, our former co-chair Jan Stel explains what happened, based on the latest scientific findings.