Typhoon Saudel floods Fujian as China evacuations widen

Typhoon Saudel forced more than 83,000 evacuations in Fujian after its third landfall, extending flood risks across China's southern coast.

Fujian evacuations pass 83,000

Authorities in Fujian and Guangdong prepared for more torrential rain Friday after downpours linked to the storm flooded both urban districts and rural communities. Local officials shut schools, halted public transport and activated emergency flood procedures across several coastal areas.

In Fuding, a Fujian city known for tea plantations and green hillsides, video from social media showed firefighters moving through waist-deep water while carrying elderly residents to safety. Nearby Jinxi village, a tea-growing community ringed by mountains, saw floodwaters enter homes and bring down a three-story brick house.

Putian, where the Mulan River runs through the city, faced flooding on main highways and damage to bridge structures, according to videos shared on RedNote. State media reported Friday that rescue teams were being sent to reach trapped residents and that some people were missing.

Third landfall shifts inland

Saudel came ashore along the Fujian coast Thursday morning after gaining strength again over the South China Sea, according to the China Meteorological Administration. It was the seventh typhoon to hit China this year and the third to strike Yuhuan in eastern Zhejiang in less than two months, a sequence the agency described as rare.

Forecasters and climate specialists have linked the storm track to El Niño, which can alter pressure patterns over the western Pacific. During such periods, a stronger and more northerly Western Pacific subtropical high can steer storms northwest toward China's eastern seaboard.

The United Nations warned Thursday that El Niño was set to intensify into 2027 and could become the strongest on record, increasing the risk of prolonged extreme weather. That warning gives the current storm sequence a broader climate context, though each landfall still depends on local atmospheric and ocean conditions.

"This typhoon season, we tend to see stronger typhoons form towards the east and they travel long distances and they get much stronger when they actually reach land, like in China or like the southern part of Asia."

Hui Su, a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said warmer conditions could also lengthen the season. Su said the typhoon season could extend into December, compared with a usual end in October or November.

Narra adds to river pressure

Saudel followed Typhoon Narra, which brought heavy rain to Guangxi, Hainan and Guangdong late last month. The Ministry of Natural Resources warned that repeated downpours had pushed rivers above warning levels and increased the risk of secondary disasters such as landslides.

The immediate economic exposure is local rather than centered on a single company: tea farms, road transport, schools, housing and municipal infrastructure are the first points of stress. Flooded roads can slow rescue work and deliveries, while damage to bridges and low-lying homes raises the cost of recovery for local governments.

If rainbands weaken as Saudel moves inland, the impact would shift from evacuation to damage assessment, with the macro effect likely confined to affected provinces. If the wet pattern persists into late season, the mechanism broadens: repeated transport disruption, crop damage and emergency spending would add pressure to coastal economies and disaster-response budgets.

For the wider region, the main open question is whether El Niño keeps steering storms toward eastern and southern China through the end of the year. For Fujian, the near-term test is whether rivers fall back below warning thresholds before more rain reaches saturated hillsides and flood-prone neighborhoods.