China prepares for more heavy rain from back-to-back storms

China's coastal areas and southern regions brace for a week of heavy rainfall, as the country faces the threat of two successive storms. Typhoon Narra has already made landfall in the southern island province of Hainan on Tuesday evening, after lingering over the Beibu Gulf for several days and causing significant rainfall in Guangxi, Hainan, and Guangdong provinces. Narra, along with Typhoon Saudel, Gaenari, and Atsani, forms a rare quartet of storms swirling in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea.

The multi-storm system has disrupted daily life, with regional authorities closing businesses, suspending tourist operations, and evacuating tens of thousands of residents. Heavy rain is expected to continue in the south, as rivers have already overflowed their banks and low-lying areas are inundated in Guangxi. Typhoon Saudel is forecast to make landfall along China's eastern seaboard between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces between Thursday and Friday, with projections suggesting its outer rain bands could extend back toward Guangxi.

Saudel, which recently swept across Japan's Okinawa prefecture, brought destructive winds and high seas, resulting in nearly 35,000 homes losing power in the Amami island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture. The storm also canceled 92 flights at airports across Okinawa Prefecture and suspended all flights to and from Naha Airport, the prefecture's main gateway.

Taiwan's Central Weather Administration noted that Saudel is currently tracking north of the island and is expected to gradually weaken, bringing moderate rainfall to parts of northern and southern Taiwan through Friday.