Typhoon Noul made landfall near Huizhou city in Guangdong province at roughly 3:50 a.m. local time on July 26, 2026. Chinese state media called it the strongest typhoon to strike China in 2026 to date. At least 10 people were killed in southern China after the storm came ashore, and at least three others died in the Philippines before Noul reached Chinese territory. The storm brought maximum sustained winds of Force 14 — the Beaufort scale's top typhoon-tier classification — near its center at landfall. China's meteorological authority issued an orange alert as it hit the coast, following a red alert (the highest warning level) as the system approached. Xinhua

Noul was the 12th typhoon to hit China in 2026 and the third to make landfall within a single month, following Typhoon Bavi and Typhoon Maysak. The Hindu The storm began as a tropical depression — a low-pressure system with organized thunderstorms but wind speeds below typhoon strength — over open waters on or around July 23. Within 12 to 24 hours, forecasters expected it to intensify into a full typhoon before reaching the Chinese coast. Xinhua The Hong Kong Observatory, which tracked the storm under its designation "2612," recorded Noul growing from a tropical storm into a severe tropical storm with a central pressure of 984 hectopascals (lower pressure generally means a more intense storm). By 3 a.m. local time on July 26, Severe Typhoon Noul was centered about 90 kilometers east-northeast of the Hong Kong Observatory. HKO

In Guangdong, more than 801,000 people were relocated for safety as of Sunday. AP News After landfall, Noul brought torrential rain and flooding across much of southern China, and the storm was forecast to move further inland and weaken. Reuters At one point the system was located at coordinates 24.4 N, 113.7 E, roughly 240 kilometers north-northwest of Hong Kong. HKO

Hong Kong felt the storm's edges acutely. The Hong Kong Observatory raised Signal 1, the lowest typhoon warning, by 8:40 p.m. on Friday, July 25, as Noul approached. Reuters The Observatory later issued a thunderstorm warning at 11:15 a.m. on July 26, extending it until 3:15 p.m., and cautioned that squally thunderstorms were expected across the territory. HKO Hong Kong International Airport canceled approximately 360 passenger flights. BBC

On Saturday, powerful winds ripped multi-storey bamboo scaffolding from a building construction site along Cheung Sha Wan Road in Hong Kong's Cheung Sha Wan district. The scaffolding collapsed onto a neighboring structure. Hong Kong police received numerous calls in response. No injuries were reported. BBC Reuters Connect

The broader context here is one of accelerating storm frequency. Three typhoon landfalls in China within a month, with Noul designated the strongest of 2026 to date, places considerable strain on Guangdong's emergency response infrastructure. The relocation of over 801,000 residents reflects the scale of preparedness operations that provincial authorities now mount as a matter of routine during severe tropical cyclones. The pre-landfall upgrade from an orange to a red alert by China's meteorological authority, followed by the orange alert maintained at landfall, indicates that forecasters tracked a system whose intensity fluctuated as it neared the coast, complicating evacuation and resource-allocation decisions.

For Hong Kong, the storm's track placed its center roughly 90 kilometers from the Observatory at its closest approach, close enough to disrupt aviation and infrastructure without delivering a direct hit. The 360 flight cancellations at one of Asia's busiest aviation hubs illustrate the cascading economic effects that even a near-miss can produce across regional supply chains and passenger travel networks. Noul had already exacted a human toll in the Philippines before reaching China, with at least three fatalities reported there. InformNNY

As Noul weakened and moved inland, attention turned to post-landfall flooding risks across Guangdong and neighboring provinces, where torrential rainfall persisted well after the center passed.