Typhoon Saudel triggers mass evacuations in south-east China — nearly 600,000 moved in Fujian

Typhoon Saudel brought days of torrential rain last week to Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces in south-east China.

Putian in Fujian recorded 416.5 mm of rain in a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday, while surrounding villages recorded more than 500 mm in the same period. Fujian authorities estimate almost 600,000 people were evacuated from high-risk, flood-prone areas. In Jiangxi 128,000 people in 53 counties were affected, with emergency evacuations involving 9,000 people.

Flooding, landslips and infrastructure damage were reported across the region. More than 2,500 teachers and students were trapped in a school compound in Wenzhou (Zhejiang) after extreme rainfall caused flash floods in low-lying areas. At least 1,260 people were reportedly rescued in Putian after a river embankment collapsed on Thursday, flattening about 100 homes. On Saturday a landslip in a village of Suichuan county (Jiangxi) killed three people and nine remained missing.

Saudel is the seventh typhoon to affect China this year and arrived shortly after Typhoon Narra dumped heavy rain on Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi late last month.

Separately, the South African Weather Service issued several thunderstorm warnings late last week for large parts of the northern and western provinces. Disruptive rainfall, damaging winds, excessive lightning and hail were reported; rainfall totals were expected to have reached at least 75–100 mm for parts of the Northern Cape and North West provinces over the weekend. In Johannesburg eight families were evacuated from an apartment building after strong winds tore off a significant part of its roof.

Oppressive heat affected the central-southern plains and the Mississippi valley in the US over the weekend, with maximum temperatures reaching the high 30s Celsius (high 90s Fahrenheit). With high humidities, heat indices were closer to 40–43°C (105–110°F). The unrelenting temperatures are set to continue across the Midwest and southern US this week, with maximums remaining in the high 30s.