Typhoon Noul hits southern China, forcing evacuations and flight cancellations as the strongest storm of 2026.
BEIJING: Typhoon Noul lashed a stretch of southern China with strong winds and rain on Sunday, prompting emergency relief in the fiercest storm to hit the country this year, state media reported.
Prior to the storm’s early morning landfall, severe weather forecasts had spurred authorities to evacuate more than 340,000 people and suspend work and rail services, with major flight disruptions continuing throughout Sunday morning.
The centre of the typhoon crossed over land at around 3:50 am near the town of Pinghai, Guangdong Province, about 80 kilometres northeast of financial hub Hong Kong, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Maximum sustained winds near the eye of the storm at landfall were 162 kilometres an hour, making Noul the strongest typhoon to strike the country so far in 2026, CCTV added.
Before gaining intensity on Saturday over the South China Sea, Noul had already clipped the extreme northern islands of the Philippines. Three people were killed and one was missing due to the typhoon, the Philippine government’s disaster agency said Sunday. More than 9,300 people had been evacuated and 235 houses suffered damage.
In southern China early Sunday, howling winds and heavy rains were seen in footage published by CCTV, with roads strewn with debris and some small structures including a basketball net toppled. Authorities in Guangdong elevated the province’s disaster relief emergency response to its second-highest level on Sunday morning. At least 350 passenger flights departing and arriving from Hong Kong were cancelled, the airport’s website showed.
Authorities in the city said 21 people were injured by the typhoon while 300 reports of fallen trees and eight reports of flooding had been received. The Hong Kong government said it had received over 100 reports of fallen trees and nine people were injured.
“Noul is moving steadily into inland Guangdong and weakening progressively, but gales are still affecting many places over Hong Kong, with occasional storm force winds over high ground,” the Hong Kong Observatory said.
“After landfall, Noul will move inland, bringing strong winds and rain to Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei provinces,” CCTV said. “Extreme” rainfall is possible in parts of Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi, particularly in mountainous areas where flood prevention is complex.
The flood-control emergency response in those three provinces had been upgraded to the third-highest level, Xinhua reported. CCTV noted that precipitation caused by the typhoon could last through Tuesday, including in provinces as far north as Henan and Shandong.
The central government’s National Development and Reform Commission allocated 100 million yuan ($14.8 million) to support Guangdong in post-typhoon recovery efforts, including reconstruction of damaged roads and infrastructure.
