Overview
- Chinese authorities confirmed on Thursday that Typhoon Saudel made its third landfall on Fujian’s coast after re-intensifying over the South China Sea.
- Provincial agencies evacuated about 247,700 people in high-risk areas and kept tens of thousands of emergency personnel and pieces of equipment on standby.
- Severe rain has flooded urban and rural areas, swamped vehicles, and caused a three-storey building to collapse while firefighters and rescuers moved to shore up trapped residents.
- More than 2,500 teachers and students were stranded at a low-lying school in Wenzhou after flash floods, with authorities using drones to deliver food and water and schools and 24 ferry routes suspended in Fujian.
- Officials and meteorologists link this unusually active typhoon sequence to a strong El Niño and warn that persistent heavy rain raises the short-term risk of further flash floods and landslides.