Firefighters in the capital of Pescara in Abruzzo, Italy, reported receiving more than 200 phone calls for assistance after heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding in the area.

Central Europe began counting the cost of deadly and devastating floods caused by Storm Boris, as the European Union pledged billions of euro in aid to affected countries and northern Italy became the latest area to be inundated by torrential rain.

As Storm Boris brought devastating floods to central and eastern Europe, skeptics on social media dismissed the role of climate change in making the deadly rainfall more intense. But scientists have established ties between a warmer atmosphere and torrential rain,