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

25/6/2025 17:50

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 defences 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.