A city in Guangdong after floods in 2012.

At a time when Guangzhou is bracing for typhoon Rammasun to “cause severe damage” later this week, future flooding disasters are predicted for Guangzhou that could see the city completely submerged by 2050, reported Guangzhou Daily.

Typhoon Rammasun is approaching the Philippines with gusts of 30 meters per second. On Tuesday morning, the typhoon was located 180 kilometers east of Luzon’s coastal city of Legazpi. When it arrives, the typhoon is expected to bring about torrential rains and storms in Guangdong’s southern, central and northern regions.

World Bank economist Stephane Hallegatte wrote in a paper published last year that Guangzhou will suffer high financial losses from flooding at a rate of $13.2 billion a year by 2050. The findings were refuted by experts from China’s State Oceanic Administration, who argued “not all full findings could be taken seriously”. On the other hand, they admitted that Guangdong’s sea level has been rising at its fastest rate for the past 20 years. The speed is 1.7-times higher than the global trend over the last 100 years.

About 13% of the Pearl River Delta is located below sea level. In 50 years, Guangdong’s sea level is expected to further rise 27.5 cm, causing floods and typhoons. The Pearl River Delta could face up to RMB 262.5 billion in financial losses each year if its sea level rises another 100 centimeters, the administration said.

What has made the province’s flooding worse is that most dykes and levies along the Pearl River are not strong enough to face destructive floods, the newspaper said, citing experts from the administration.

The immediate solution is to build up flood reinforcements that could sustain a once-in-a-200-years flood. However, many bridges in Guangzhou that were built in the last century, like the Tianhe Bridge, could only survive a once-in-a-20-years flood.

Photos: www.weather.com.cn; Xinhua