Typhoon Saudel brought days of torrential rain to the Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces in south-east China last week. 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 affected across Jiangxi, with emergency evacuations impacting 9,000.
The city of Putian, in Fujian province, recorded 416.5mm of rain in a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday, with surrounding villages seeing over 500mm. Flooding, landslips, and infrastructure damage were widely reported across the region. More than 2,500 teachers and students were trapped in a school compound in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, on Wednesday due to flash floods.
At least 1,260 people reportedly required rescue in Putian after a river embankment collapsed on Thursday, flattening 100 homes. On Saturday, a landslip in a village of Suichuan county, Jiangxi province, resulted in three fatalities and nine people remaining missing. Saudel is the seventh typhoon to affect China this year.
Elsewhere, the South African Weather Service issued thunderstorm warnings late last week for northern and western provinces, with disruptive rainfall, damaging winds, lightning, and hail reported. In Johannesburg, eight families were evacuated after strong winds damaged an apartment building roof.
Oppressive heat affected the central-southern US plains and Mississippi valley over the weekend, with maximum temperatures reaching the high 30s Celsius. With high humidities, heat indices in this region were closer to 40-43C. These unrelenting temperatures are forecast to continue across the midwest and southern US this week.