China: Mixed Effects From Heavy Rains

Flooding in June, Typhoon in July

Unusually heavy rain caused significant flooding and economic losses in southern China in June. By early July, the heavy rain had moved north of the Yangtze River and caused additional flooding in Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces. The weather became increasingly hot and dry in the southeast and in the Yangtze River valley during July, but Typhoon Haitang brought beneficial rain and cooler temperatures.

Maps and Graphs

According to information released by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, heavy rain beginning in mid-June resulted in severe floods and landslides in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Guangxi provinces. The flooding began around June 20 and peaked a week later, forcing the evacuation of nearly 3 million people. The flooding was particularly serious along the Pearl River (Guangdong/Guangxi provinces) and in the city of Wuzhou, located about 220 miles west of Guangzhou. According to government officials, the damage from the June flooding was heavier than average but less severe than in 1991 and 1998. There were reports of flood damage to early rice, cotton, and sugar cane crops in the region, with one source indicating that more than 600,000 hectares of farmland had been destroyed, but the full extent of crop losses is still unknown. There was one favorable aspect to the heavy rain – it completely erased the rainfall deficit from last year’s severe drought in the region.

Drier weather finally returned to southern China in early July, which aided flood recovery efforts and improved conditions for early rice harvesting and late rice transplanting. Soil moisture levels quickly dropped, however, in response to the hot and mostly dry weather, and more rain will be needed by the end of the month to maintain adequate moisture for late rice, sugar, and other cash crops.

More rain will be needed soon.

Rain Moves North in July

Rainy season arrives fast and hard in central China .

The same stalled weather system that kept southern China unusually wet in May and June caused the Yangtze basin to become unfavorably dry. Although soil moisture remained adequate for maturing early rice and vegetative cotton and other summer crops, above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall stressed crops in several areas, particularly southern Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.

This situation changed suddenly in early July, when a powerful storm system developed north of the Yangtze River and dumped heavy rain (up to 12 inches) in Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, and parts of Hubei, Sichuan and southern Shandong. Although the rain improved soil moisture levels and lowered temperatures slightly, it caused locally serious flooding in mountainous areas and may have damaged the cotton crop, which was in the budding/flowering stage. Corn and oilseed crops were still mostly in the vegetative stage in early July and subsequently less vulnerable to wet weather than cotton.

Typhoon Haitang Hits China

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The first typhoon of the season – Haitang – struck the east coast of Taiwan on July 18, killing twelve people, destroying over 15,000 hectares of farmland (chiefly rice, fruit, and vegetables), and causing an estimated $36 million in crop damage throughout Taiwan. The storm then struck the mainland on July 19 as a dangerous but weakening tropical storm, killing three and causing significant economic damage. The city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang was hit especially hard. More than 1 million people were evacuated from the path of the storm. Economic damage was estimated at $318 million in Fujian and $638 million in Zhejiang. Roughly 200,000 hectares of cropland, mainly rice and cash crops, were damaged in Fujian and Zhejiang. The storm had little effect on the region's cotton, which is concentrated to the north and west of the impacted area. Haitang dissipated quickly after landfall, but heavy rain (generally more than 2 inches) and gale-force winds associated with the storm lasted for several days and reached into the central China provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan. Many of these areas had been hotter and drier than normal in July and benefited from the additional rain.

Links

China Political Map

China Crop Calendar

Crop Explorer

Information on June Flooding - Reliefweb

For more information, contact Paulette Sandene
with the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division,
Center for Remote Sensing Analysis at (202) 202-690-0133.