Typhoons in Succession Trigger Rainstorm Alerts in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Shandong: Flood Defense for Packaging and Printing Plants

The impact of the Henan floods continues to unfold. Preliminary figures as of 12:00 on the 23rd show that insurers in the province had received 176,900 claims, with estimated losses of RMB 5.827 billion. Numerous packaging and printing plants saw workshops and warehouses inundated, raw materials and equipment submerged, and shutdown notices multiply, leaving property damage difficult to quantify.

Before the Henan flood situation has eased, rainstorm alerts have returned to coastal Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Shandong. Typhoon In-Fa, this year's No. 6 storm, and Typhoon Cempaka, No. 7, are approaching in succession, creating a back-to-back threat.

Typhoon In-Fa, the sixth storm of the year, made landfall around 12:30 on July 25.

It came ashore in Putuo District, Zhoushan.

According to the National Meteorological Center at 18:15 on the 25th:

In-Fa was positioned near the border between Jinshan, Shanghai, and Pinghu, Zhejiang,

over waters about 90 kilometers east-southeast, and had entered Hangzhou Bay.

It was moving west-northwest at roughly 15 kilometers per hour, with slightly weakened intensity. Forecasts put it crossing Jiangsu on the 27th–28th and reaching Shandong on the 29th–30th.

Typhoon warning status along the Zhejiang coast:

Globally, natural disasters in 2020 caused USD 210 billion in losses, with insured losses of USD 82 billion, both well above 2019 levels. China's summer floods were the costliest single event that year, generating about USD 17 billion in total losses, yet only around 2% was insured.

In practice, Chinese businesses facing natural disasters often have to rely largely on their own defenses and self-rescue. That is why,

for the packaging and printing sector, preventing typhoon-driven breaches has become an urgent operational priority.

In September 2016, Typhoon Meranti hit Xiamen, affecting Hexing Packaging and several other carton packaging companies. Some suffered serious damage, and the area briefly faced such tight carton supply that a single box was hard to obtain.

In October 2015, Typhoon Mujigae swept through Zhanjiang, Guangdong, collapsing workshops at most local paper mills and carton plants, destroying machinery and flooding raw materials, with severe consequences. Zhanjiang Chenming, hit hard, was forced to halt all lines and suffered direct losses exceeding RMB 20 million; Zhanjiang Yurong Paper and Zhanjiang Runding Packaging Co., Ltd. each lost more than RMB 20 million.

So how can companies keep losses to a minimum when a typhoon approaches?

Beyond monitoring warnings and arranging flood insurance, the following countermeasures should be put in place:

1. Form an emergency team for sudden disasters. A responsible leader should coordinate long-term execution, with duties assigned to specific individuals. Workshops, drainage equipment and base-paper warehouses should be inspected regularly to remove hidden risks. As a typhoon nears, prepare rain gear, lighting and tarpaulins, deploy defense resources quickly and activate emergency response on time.
2. Move inventory to the second floor or higher safe levels wherever possible; any stock kept on the ground floor must be raised at least 60 cm above the floor. If that is not feasible, use pallets and similar tools to elevate paper rolls and cartons, and keep forklift operators on 24-hour standby to move base paper and other materials threatened by flooding.
3. Clear every drainage ditch and pipe across the plant to maintain flow, and keep goods at least 1 meter away from drainage ditches and pipes.

— Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-377858.html