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Tropical cyclones caused significant national economic losses in China in recent decades. For alleviating these hydro-meteorological disasters, the spatiotemporal distributions of losses per economic sector and the associated rainfall and wind patterns of such influential tropical cyclones (ITCs) were estimated for China. Based on multiple reference databases and socio-economic data, ITCs losses for major economic sectors have been deduced. The obtained information plays an important role in the projection of sector losses of future ITCs affecting China. The total economic losses have been split into five major sector loss categories, comprising agriculture, industry, construction, transport, and business & others. About 37% of the total loss occurred in the industrial sector, occupying the largest proportion. High values were primarily distributed in the urban agglomerations of the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas and along the mainland coast of the Taiwan Strait, with over 1 billion CNY per year. Significant upward trends are found in all of sectors except in agriculture, which shows a decreasing tendency for the period of 1984–2014. The years with the highest losses occurred in the mid-1990s, mid-2000s, and early 2010s, consistently affecting all sectors in all regions along the mainland coast. The southern part of China was most frequently affected by ITCs, with increasing trends in sector losses for most areas. The relationships between wind speed, rainfall and sector losses can be presented in the form of an exponential function. The results show that rainfall is more positively correlated with ITCs losses than wind speed. Here, the industry sector shows the largest correlation coefficient and highest growth rate, whereas the construction sector shows the lowest. In future, research should pay more attention on impacts of heavy rainfall triggered by ITCs in China.

Most of China’s coastline is economically developing, densely populated, and frequently hit by landfalling Tropical Cyclones (TCs). Economic losses below province level have not been systematically analyzed due to lack of data. The objective of this paper is to conduct a TC loss assessment on county level in Fujian Province, coastal SE China, and to break down economic losses from province-scale to smaller administrative units. A unique loss database established by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) and National Climate Center is used, and four entries at county-level are derived: location of losses due to TC, total economic losses per TC, start time of TC, and end time of TC. Tracks and intensities of TCs from 1949–2008 are derived from the CMA and Shanghai Typhoon Center annual typhoon yearbooks. Physical and economic data are overlaid in a Geographical information System. The landfall spots of TCs on China’s mainland coastline from 1949–2008 are determined by generating segments of 1° length. The result shows that Guangdong Province (South China) and Fujian Province (South-East China) host distinct hot spots where TCs make frequent landfall. All TCs making landfall in Central-North Fujian originated from the West North Pacific and none from the South China Sea. Direct economic losses in 25 counties along Fujian’s coastline due to TCs from 1984–2007 are analyzed and corrected with the Consumer Price Index. Some counties report losses frequently at low magnitude but seldom at high magnitude. Others like urban Fuzhou experience losses above 10 million CNY per TC, the most costly one 70 times higher. Other rural counties might experience economic losses far below 10 million CNY when being hit. Landfalling TCs in average cause economic losses of minimum 10 million CNY in 21 of 25 counties. In roughly one third of the counties, economic losses account for more than 30 million CNY when a TC has impact. The average economic losses per TC are 0.2–0.5% of the counties’ GDP (South and North of Fujian’s coastline) and even more than 0.5% of the GDP in North-East Fujian. The economic impacts of TCs are higher along the southern and northern coastline of Fujian Province where TC landfall activity is higher, but higher economic losses are triggered by higher GDP in these counties. The most costly TCs in Fujian had intensities of Severe Tropical Storm or Typhoon and occurred mostly in the 2000’s after making landfall in July.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are historically documented along the coastline of China. They can have negative impacts on society and damages are reported annually. This paper examines to what extent TCs are responsible for heavy rain days (precipitation > 100 mm/d) in coastal Fujian Province. The average deviation of TCs making landfall in China is 25%, and they occur more reliably than TCs in the west North Pacific. A distinct typhoon season between July and September/October was detected and can be explained by low interannual variability during these months. The annual number of TCs is below average (above average) during El Nino (La Nina) years, but the intensity of TCs is higher during El Nino years. From 1960 to 2007, 41% of heavy rain days (precipitation > 100 mm/d) at all 66 weather stations in Fujian Province were triggered by TCs. The number of heavy rain days is higher during El Nino years, although the number of TCs affecting Fujian in general is higher during La Nina years. For the coastal weather stations in east Fujian, 57% (45%) of the heavy rain days are triggered by TCs during El Nino (La Nina) years. In the research area, more than 50% of annual heavy rain days can be explained by TCs, and the ratio reaches 85% in the northern part bordering Zhejiang Province. More TCs impact Fujian during La Nina years, but more TCs cause heavy precipitation days during El Nino years. The number of heavy rain days fluctuates in line with the interannual variability of TCs making landfall.