TEXT OF STORY

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: China is cleaning up in the aftermath of the strongest typhoon to hit that country in half a century. Typhoon Saomai, packing winds of 134 miles an hour, left about 300 people dead or missing last week. It caused an estimated $1 billion worth of damage. This isn’t the only freaky weather affecting China. Is there a pattern? Jocelyn Ford has more.

JOCELYN FORD: One of China’s most populous provinces, Sichuan, is facing its worst drought in 50 years.

Scientists are unsure whether the severe typhoon and drought are linked to global warming, but Climate scientist Ren Guoyu says he is certain that China is heating up.

REN GUOYU:“In the past 50 years, the surface temperature increased very significantly.”

By nearly 2 degrees farenheit. And he says the dry north is getting drier, and wetter southern china is getting more rain.

Scientists say in the future, they expect the buildup of greenhouse gases to bring more severe storms and drought.

This year, china introduced laws to promote energy conservation and renewable energies. This could curb production of gasses that lead to global warming, but China is still expected to overtake the US 20 years from now as the largest producer of greenhouse gasses.

In Beijing, I’m Jocelyn Ford for Marketplace