Simply put, the storms are caused when warmer oceanic and atmospheric currents interact with cooler currents in tropic and sub-tropical regions, experts say.
"The hurricanes and typhoons are due to hot air rising... and the hotter the air, the spinning of the hurricanes is faster, picking up more water," Lau told AFP.
Meanwhile, as some areas of China are hit by more typhoons and the resulting floods, other parts of the country are suffering from intense drought, which experts say is another by-product of global warming.
In a landmark report in the mid-1990s, the UN panel on climate change predicted that global warming would leave southern China drenched with more rains, while the north and west of the country would suffer worsening droughts.
In Sichuan province, directly to the west of where much of the devastation from the typhoons has occurred, nearly seven million people are currently in urgent need of drinking water due to a severe drought, state press said Friday.
In the southwestern municipality of Chongqing next to Sichuan, the drought is threatening the water supply for 17 million people, according to another state press report.
