Areas of eastern China already suffering from severe flooding are battening down the hatches ahead of the arrival of super Typhoon Nepartak. The typhoon made landfall in Taiwan, and is expected to cross the Taiwan Strait and hit China on Saturday (9 July). The typhoon has been labelled a category 5 storm on a scale of 1 to 5 by Tropical Storm Risk making it a super typhoon but it should weaken to a topical storm by the time it reaches China.

Widespread flooding has wreaked havoc across wide swathes of central and southern China. The city of Wuhan on the Yangtze River, home to 10 million people, has been particularly badly affected, with flooded subway lines and power cuts. The typhoon is expected to push more rain into already flooded areas in and around Wuhan, the Xinhua news agency said. Areas of Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province are also underwater.

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Houses are submerged in floodwaters in Xuancheng, Anhui province Reuters
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Workers carry out checks on an electric pole at a flooded area in Xuancheng, Anhui province Reuters
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A wealthy neighbourhood is cut off by floodwater in Wuhan, Hubei province Reuters
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A pavilion is seen submerged in the flooded Yangtze River in Wuhan Reuters
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A flooded commercial area is seen in Chizhou, Anhui province Reuters
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A wide expanse of land is flooded in Xuancheng, in east China's Anhui province AFP
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Paramilitary policemen sleep after trying to repair a break in a dam in Lujiang county, Anhui province Reuters
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Splintered trees clog a hydroelectric dam in Yizhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Reuters
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A woman removes water from her flooded shop in South Lake, Wuhan Wang He/Getty Images
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People remove floodwater from a restaurant in Wuhan Reuters
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Commuters sit in the shovel of an excavator on their way to work and school in Wuhan, Hubei province Reuters
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A woman screams as she crosses a flooded street in Wuhan AFP
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Residents of Wuhan make their way along a flooded street in an inflatable boat AFP
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Aerial view of houses surrounded by flooded farmland in Yizhengxinji Town, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province VCG via Getty Images
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A woman rides a scooter with a girl along a flooded road in South Lake Community, Wuhan Wang He/Getty Images
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An aerial view of the flooded Xinhua Road Sports Centre Stadium in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province AFP
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Trees are reflected in floodwater at the University of Science and Technology in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province VCG via Getty Images

Rainstorms hit southern China every year during the summer monsoons, but this rainy season has been particularly wet. That is because this year's El Nino was so much stronger than normal that it was nicknamed Godzilla by Nasa. El Nino is the natural warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide. This year's higher ocean temperatures are believed to have triggered droughts in parts of Africa and India. It is also thought to have played a role in a record Pacific hurricane season.

A similarly strong El Nino effect was linked to China's worst floods in recent history. Some 4,150 people died in 1998, mostly along the Yangtze. Flood control measures along China's longest river have since been reinforced, but experts say this time severe floods are likely to hit the Yangtze's tributaries.

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