Typhoon Saudel Batters South-East China as Severe Weather Hits South Africa

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

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

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

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

The South African Weather Service implemented several thunderstorm warnings late last week, covering a large swathe of the northern and western provinces. Disruptive rainfall, damaging winds, excessive lightning and hail were all reported, with rainfall totals expected to have reached at least 75-100mm 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.