A perfect storm was unfolding on a scale which could have shaken even a modern state. Then, in autumn 755 it rained for sixty days. In Chang’an, the lower part of the city, where the poorest lived, was under water; in Luoyang, nineteen wards were flooded and huge numbers were housed in temporary camps. With the destruction of the harvest, prices soared. The government was forced to empty its grain stores to help alleviate the suffering.
