Typhoon Saudel brings torrential rain and flooding to China’s coast

Firefighters waded through waist-deep floodwater in Fuding, Fujian, to carry elderly residents to safety as Typhoon Saudel brought torrential rain to China’s southern coast.

In nearby Jinxi village, a tea-growing community surrounded by mountains, floodwaters inundated homes and brought down a three-storey house. The storm also swamped vehicles and caused a three-storey brick building to collapse in urban and rural areas.

Authorities closed schools, suspended public transport and activated emergency flood measures across several coastal areas. More than 83,000 people were evacuated in Fujian alone, while hundreds of thousands were moved across Zhejiang and neighboring provinces from late August as Saudel tracked inland.

Saudel made its third landfall along the Fujian coast on Thursday morning after strengthening again over the South China Sea. It became the seventh typhoon to hit China this year and the third to strike Yuhuan in eastern Zhejiang in less than two months. China’s Meteorological Administration called the sequence extremely rare, while experts linked it closely to El Niño.

The storm followed Typhoon Narra, which brought heavy rain to Guangxi, Hainan and Guangdong late last month. The Ministry of Natural Resources warned that more downpours could trigger landslides and other secondary disasters, with rivers already above warning levels and low-lying communities inundated. The United Nations has warned that El Niño could intensify through 2027, potentially becoming the strongest on record.