China, reeling from floods, braces for second tropical cyclone in two weeks

A tropical depression may hit southern China as early as Thursday, meteorologists cautioned, bringing rain and gales to a flood-hit region still recovering from the impact of Typhoon Wutip two weeks ago.

The tropical depression could make landfall somewhere between the island province of Hainan and Guangdong on the mainland on Thursday morning, China’s National Meteorological Centre said in an online bulletin on Wednesday.

The storm will again test the flood defenses of densely populated Guangdong as well as Guangxi and Hunan further inland.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated when Wutip tore through the region from June 13 to 15, dumping record rains and damaging roads and cropland. Five people died.

China has battled with summer floods for millennia, but some scientists say climate change is resulting in heavier and more frequent rain. Massive flooding could set off unforeseen “black swan” events with dire consequences such as dam collapses, Chinese officials say.

Heavy precipitation caused by typhoons will also aggravate seasonal rainfall from June to July, causing bigger-than-expected floods, Chinese meteorologists say.

On Wednesday, unusually heavy rains struck Rongjiang in southwestern Guizhou province, half-submerging the city of 300,000 people as fast-rising flood-waters swept away cars, roared into underground garages and malls, and damaged vital infrastructure including its power grid.

Affected by the rainfall in Guizhou, rivers in Guangxi downstream remained swollen on Wednesday, state media reported, with one waterway more than 9 meters (30 feet) above levels that are considered safe.

China’s economic planning agency in Beijing on Wednesday said it had urgently allocated 100 million yuan ($14 million) to assist disaster relief work in Guizhou, and an additional 100 million yuan to Guangdong and Hunan.