From a Washington Post column by Peter Gleick headlined “The ancients had it right: Water, not just fire, can be apocalyptic”

Apocalyptic visions are dominated by fire. The Bible prophesies sinners being cast into a lake of flame. Nostradamus predicted fire from the sky. Manhattan Project scientists worried that the atomic bomb would set the entire atmosphere ablaze.

But this year has been a devastating reminder of the power and menace of water. Water scientists have a saying that if climate change is a shark, water will be the teeth. Now the world is being bitten, with news every day of extreme storms and killer floods.