As Typhoon Morakot disappeared off China's east coast on Wednesday afternoon, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake, the nation's emergency relief teams were already preparing for their next challenge: Trying to prevent more secondary disasters.
The storm, which battered Taiwan and the Chinese mainland with heavy rain and winds of up to 119 km/h for five days, left at least 110 dead and many more injured.
It also capped a miserable summer for those who have endured months of extreme weather conditions and led to calls for improved disaster prevention measures in China's flood-prone regions.
Typhoon Morakot, the eighth to hit China this year and the worst for half a century, led to the evacuation of 1.5 million people on the mainland when it first struck off the coast of Fujian province on Sunday.
It caused 9.7 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in damage, destroying 10,000 homes and flooding 1 million acres of cropland in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, said Ministry of Civil Affairs officials.
Heavy rain also triggered several mudslides, one of the worst being in Taishun, a mountain-side town in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, where seven three-story apartment blocks were demolished, killing two people.
"We have become used to flooding here," explained Chen Shiyang, a shopkeeper in Cangnan county of Wenzhou. "But this was more serious. We never expected this storm to be so destructive. Our roads were cut off and we lost power for more than 20 hours. It's horrific to think how many people have been killed."
Torrential rains and extreme weather conditions have wreaked havoc for millions this summer. At least 10 people died in mudslides in Chongqing municipality this month, while a gale killed at least 22 people and seriously injured 117 in central China's Henan Province in June.
Figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed natural disasters, 70 percent of which were meteorological events, had claimed 384 lives during the first half of this year, with 24 people still listed as missing. They also caused 39 billion yuan in damage.
The story in southern and central regions is in sharp contrast to the problems in northeastern Liaoning Province, where more than 4 million people have been hit by a severe drought threatening drinking water supplies and agricultural production since late June.
"Extreme weather conditions have become more frequent in the past few years," said Xiao Ziniu, director of the National Climate Center (NCC) under the China Meteorological Administration. "Just last year, China was struck by a greater number of typhoons, as well as the worst snowstorm for 50 years in many regions of southern China from mid-January until February."
While many factors play a part, climate change is the biggest component to the volatile weather in China.
