From Hurricane Helene to Typhoon Yagi, powerful storms are battering the globe, and scientists warn that a warming planet is amplifying their destructive force to unprecedented levels.Additionally, rising sea levels -- about a foot over the past century -- mean cyclones are now operating from a higher baseline,

Overall, the IPCC concludes that there is "high confidence" that humans have contributed to increases in precipitation associated with tropical cyclones, and "medium confidence" that humans have contributed to the higher probability of a tropical cyclone being more intense.

Hurricane Helene struck Florida as a Category 4 storm and tore through the southeast, but saved the bulk of her devastation for an unlikely destination: the rugged mountain towns of western North Carolina.

Hurricane Helene has become the fourth deadliest US storm in the past 20 years — after a devastating 40 trillion gallons of water were dumped across the south in a matter of days. At least 152 people have been confirmed dead across six states as of Tuesday,