BEIJING — Typhoon Saudel’s third landfall along China’s Fujian coast unleashed torrential rain that flooded cities and villages across Fujian and Guangdong, collapsed at least one three-story house and left residents missing in Putian, The Straits Times reported, citing Reuters.
Saudel, the 18th named typhoon of 2026, came ashore near Zhangpu County in Zhangzhou around 6:30 a.m. Thursday with sustained winds near 23 meters per second after reintensifying over the South China Sea, Xinhua said. Authorities in Fujian had evacuated more than 83,000 people by early Thursday; hundreds of thousands had already been relocated across Zhejiang and neighboring provinces since late August as the storm tracked inland.
In Fuding, a tea-growing city, firefighters carried elderly residents through waist-deep water. In nearby Jinxi village, floodwaters inundated homes and brought down a brick house, according to social media footage verified by Reuters. In Putian, the Mulan River overtopped highways and damaged bridges; state broadcaster CCTV said rescue teams were searching for trapped people after a dike breach near Huating town, where more than 100 houses collapsed and an unspecified number of residents remained unaccounted for Friday.
Schools closed and public transport was suspended in multiple coastal areas as forecasts called for more heavy to torrential rain across Fujian, eastern and northern Guangdong, southern Jiangxi and Hunan, and much of Taiwan. Saudel follows Typhoon Narra, which soaked Guangxi, Hainan and Guangdong in late August. China’s National Climate Center warned two to three more typhoons could affect the eastern and southern coasts in September.
Sources: The Straits Times / Reuters; Xinhua.
