The name Saudel was used for the first time, replacing Typhoon Soudelor in 2015, which caused serious damage in Taiwan and Mainland China.

Once the system emerged into the South China Sea, it began to rapidly organize and intensify, becoming a typhoon early on October 22.

Strong winds and high seas were recorded off the coast of Malaysia, prompting a tropical cyclone advisory to be issued.

[1] At 15:00 UTC on October 16, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) began tracking an area of atmospheric convection, or thunderstorms, approximately 463 nautical miles (857 km) east-southeast of Palau.

[3] A few hours later, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) also recognized the system as a tropical depression,[4] and subsequently issued their first warning.

[7] Saudel made landfall over the San Ildefonso Peninsula in Casiguran, Aurora on October 20 at 13:00 UTC (21:00 PHT) and began crossing Luzon, emerging over the South China Sea hours later.

[13] As it approached Vietnam, it began to rapidly weaken due to high vertical wind shear and was downgraded to a tropical storm on October 24.

The storm brought strong winds on the Qiongzhou Strait, forcing ships to stop service at 05:00 UTC on October 23.

[27] Vietnam was already dealing with severe flooding from tropical systems Linfa, Nangka, and Ofel when Typhoon Saudel affected the region.