During the year, said Dong Wenjie, director of the Beijing Climate Centre, there was less rain than normal, higher temperatures and a series of typhoons and other storms, followed by drought.
"Typhoons, floods and droughts claimed 2,704 lives and inflicted economic losses of 212 billion yuan (US$27 billion) in 2006, second only to 1998 when an extremely severe flood swept the country," Xinhua said, quoting the annual report of the China Meteorological Administration .
See full story