Typhoon Saudel struck southeastern China last week, delivering days of torrential rain across Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces. In the Fujian city of Putian, 416.5 mm of rain fell in a 24‑hour period between Thursday and Friday, while surrounding villages recorded more than 500 mm. The deluge forced authorities to evacuate nearly 600,000 residents from high‑risk, flood‑prone areas in Fujian and an additional 128,000 people across 53 counties in Jiangxi.
Flooding, landslides and infrastructure damage were widespread. More than 2,500 teachers and students were trapped in a school compound in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, after flash floods inundated low‑lying areas. In Putian, a collapsed river embankment on Thursday required the rescue of 1,260 people and flattened 100 homes.
A landslip on Saturday in Suichuan County, Jiangxi, killed three people and left nine others missing. The disaster marked the seventh typhoon to impact China this year, arriving shortly after Typhoon Narra had dumped heavy rain on Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi in late October.
Elsewhere, the South African Weather Service issued multiple thunderstorm warnings over northern and western provinces, with rainfall totals of 75–100 mm reported in parts of the Northern Cape and North West. In Johannesburg, strong winds tore off a significant portion of an apartment building’s roof, prompting the evacuation of eight families.
Across the United States, oppressive heat affected the central‑southern plains and the Mississippi Valley, with maximum temperatures reaching the high 30s Celsius and heat indices approaching 40–43 °C. The unrelenting heat is expected to continue across the Midwest and southern states this week.
