In Fujian's city of Fuding, known for its tea plantations and lush greenery, firefighters on Friday waded through waist-deep floodwaters to carry elderly people to safety, social media footage verified by Reuters showed.
In nearby Jinxi village, a tea-growing community surrounded by mountains, raging floodwaters inundated residential buildings and brought down a three-storey house, social media footage verified by Reuters showed.
Local authorities have closed schools, suspended public transport and enforced emergency flood protocols across multiple coastal areas.
Saudel made its third landfall along the coast of Fujian on Thursday morning after intensifying again over the South China Sea.
It is the seventh typhoon to hit China in 2026 and the third to strike the city of Yuhuan in eastern Zhejiang in less than two months.
The meteorological sequence is extremely rare, according to China's Meteorological Administration, and one that experts say is closely linked to El Niño.
During an El Niño year, the Western Pacific subtropical high is exceptionally strong and positioned further north, guiding typhoons along a northwest trajectory directly toward China's eastern coast.
The United Nations on Thursday warned the El Niño was set to intensify further into 2027 and could be the strongest ever, raising the risk of prolonged extreme weather.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been relocated across Zhejiang and nearby provinces since late August, including more than 83,000 residents evacuated in Fujian alone as Saudel tracked inland and soaked surrounding areas.
Saudel follows Typhoon Narra, which dumped heavy rain across Guangxi, Hainan and Guangdong provinces late in August.
Torrential downpours pose a high risk for secondary disasters such as landslides, as recent rains have already pushed rivers over warning thresholds and inundated low-lying communities, the Ministry of Natural Resources warned.
