Typhoon Narra weakens after hitting China; Saudel approaches

Typhoon Narra weakened on Wednesday after making landfall on China's southern island of Hainan and the southeastern province of Guangdong. The storm brought torrential rains and flooding to Guangxi, impacting 61,000 people, with 54,000 relocated preventively and over 8,000 evacuated to emergency centers.

Narra first made landfall on Hainan's coast late Tuesday with maximum winds of 20 meters per second. It crossed into Guangdong early Wednesday with reduced winds of 18 meters per second, further degrading to a tropical depression with 15 meters per second winds over Xuwen county. The storm was moving northwest and losing strength.

Meanwhile, authorities are closely watching Typhoon Saudel, the season's eighteenth typhoon. As of Wednesday morning, Saudel was a strong typhoon in the East China Sea with maximum winds of 42 meters per second. Forecasts indicate Saudel will move west-northwest then west-southwest, potentially making landfall on China's eastern coast between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces by Friday morning.

The consecutive typhoons follow a summer marked by severe weather in China, including heavy rains, floods, and landslides, which caused dozens of deaths and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.