FUZHOU, China — Typhoon Saudel dumped torrential rain across parts of southern and eastern China on Friday, flooding cities and villages, damaging buildings and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes as authorities warned of more flooding and potentially deadly landslides.
The storm has hit Fujian and Guangdong provinces especially hard. In Fuding, a Fujian city surrounded by tea-growing areas, emergency crews waded through waist-deep water to carry elderly residents to safety. Floodwaters also swept through nearby Jinxi village, where a three-story brick building collapsed after homes were inundated.
Schools have been closed and public transportation suspended in several affected areas, while local governments activated emergency flood-response measures. Authorities were organizing rescue teams in Putian after water spilled across major roads, damaged bridge structures and entered residential buildings. Some people were reported missing, though officials had not announced a confirmed overall casualty toll by early Friday.
More than 83,000 people have been evacuated in Fujian alone. Hundreds of thousands have been relocated across Zhejiang and neighboring provinces since late August as successive storms have battered the region.
Saudel made its third landfall along the Fujian coast Thursday morning after strengthening again over the South China Sea. It became the seventh typhoon to strike China this year and the third to hit Yuhuan in eastern Zhejiang in less than two months, a sequence the China Meteorological Administration described as extremely rare.
Meteorologists say this year’s unusual storm pattern is closely connected to a strengthening El Niño, a naturally occurring warming of parts of the tropical Pacific Ocean that can alter weather patterns around the world. During strong El Niño periods, shifts in atmospheric circulation can influence where tropical storms form and the routes they take.
The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that El Niño is firmly established and is expected to strengthen substantially in the coming months. Its forecasts show a nearly 100% likelihood that the phenomenon will persist through February 2027, raising the risk of floods, drought, extreme heat and other severe weather in different regions.
“This exceptional El Niño demands exceptional preparation and response,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said. The agency said governments and national weather services are increasing early-warning and preparedness efforts as unusually warm Pacific waters continue to fuel the climate pattern.
China has long endured typhoons during the western Pacific storm season, particularly along its densely populated eastern and southern coastline. What makes the current period notable is the frequency of recent landfalls and the repeated exposure of some communities to heavy rainfall, flooding and evacuation within a relatively short period.
The consequences extend beyond the immediate disaster zone. Extreme weather across East Asia can interrupt transportation, agriculture and regional commerce, while repeated storms impose growing costs for infrastructure repairs and disaster relief. The WMO has warned that a strengthening El Niño could produce broader disruptions to agriculture, trade, water supplies and transportation around the world into 2027.
For residents of Fujian, Guangdong and surrounding provinces, however, the immediate concern remains the rain. Emergency crews continued evacuations Friday while authorities monitored swollen rivers and unstable hillsides, warning residents in vulnerable areas to follow evacuation orders as Saudel moved farther inland.
