Typhoon Doksuri made landfall as a Category-1 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson scale in Jinjiang, Fujian, China, at around 14:00 local time on July 28. The storm brought some of the heaviest rainfall in over a hundred years to the country’s capital Beijing and caused the worst flooding seen in decades in parts of eastern and north-eastern China before it dissipated over northern parts of the country on July 29. Doksuri arrived on the heels of Typhoon Talim, which had made landfall in Guangdong Province on July 17, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to parts of southern China.
The storm forced evacuation for more than 100,000 residents in Beijing and approximately 1.5 million residents in the wider Hebei Province. Hundreds of thousands of evacuations were also reported in Fujian and Heilongjiang provinces after the storm’s landfall.
Direct economic losses are currently estimated to amount to at least 14.7 billion yuan ($2 billion; €1.86 billion), but the full extent of the damages will likely only become clearer in the coming weeks as clean-up and repair operations continue across the affected regions.
Heavy rainfall and flooding impact several manufacturing sectors
Severe weather conditions impacted industrial areas and manufacturing sites in many parts of north-eastern and eastern China over the past week. As of August 7, the transportation of raw materials and finished goods remains disrupted, while flooding continues to limit the ability of many workers to move to and from production sites.
Even before the storm made landfall, local authorities instructed manufacturers in parts of Fujian and Guangdong Provinces to halt operations as a precautionary measure. Mandatory stoppages went into effect in Shantou, Guangdong from 13:00 local time on July 27 until 23:59 local time on July 29, while companies in Fujian, including in Quanzhou, Xiamen, and Zhangzhou, were instructed to shut down from the morning of July 28 until the morning of July 30. Among the leading industries in Fujian are the electronics, petrochemical, textile, and advanced equipment manufacturing sectors.
Severe weather impacts key agricultural areas in China
The passage of Typhoon Doksuri also caused damages to the country’s agricultural production as heavy rain and flooding destroyed crops and submerged local farms as well as transport networks, including in Heilongjiang Province, a key hub for grain production.
Across the wider Shangzhi area, a region known for its rice, soybean and corn production, the worst rainfall since the 1950s damaged bridges and roads, cut power supply, flooded over a thousand greenhouses and submerged rice fields. Some red bean farmers in the area may be forced to sell their produce as animal feed after flood waters caused the crops to germinate. In Shangzhi, more than 42,000 hectares of crops have already been destroyed by the flood waters, while more than 90,000 hectares were said to be damaged in the nearby provincial capital Harbin. Wuchang, a major rice producing district in the region saw large areas of its farmland flooded as well, but damage estimates have yet to be released.
Floodwaters have also displaced almost 19,000 residents in parts of Jilin and inundated many provincial roads. Although evacuees were gradually allowed to return as of August 7, disruptions to local transport and farming activities are likely to continue in the near term as clean-up operations have not been completed. Sometimes referred to as China’s granary, the three provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning account for more than a fifth of China’s entire grain production.
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