Typhoon Noul slams southern China, over 700,000 evacuated

Landfall and evacuations

Typhoon Noul, the strongest typhoon to hit China this year, struck the city of Huizhou in southern Guangdong province on Sunday, packing destructive winds and heavy rainfall that prompted authorities to evacuate 715,351 residents, according to the state-run Global Times.

The National Meteorological Centre issued its first red typhoon warning of the year — the highest alert level in China's four-tier system — on Saturday evening as the storm approached, the newspaper reported. Noul, the 12th tropical cyclone of the year, became the first typhoon to make landfall in Guangdong this year and the most powerful to strike the country in 2026.

Flights and rail services cancelled

More than 1,000 flights were grounded at airports in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong on Sunday as the storm swept through the Pearl River Delta, according to the report. Authorities also cancelled over 190 cross-border high-speed rail services, disrupting travel between mainland China and the special administrative region.

Emergency measures and inland forecast

Guangdong authorities evacuated 715,351 people and imposed full or partial “five suspensions” across 12 cities, halting classes, work, production, transport, and business activities to safeguard residents, the Global Times said. The provincial government has allocated 100 million yuan ($14.79 million) for post-typhoon recovery efforts as meteorologists warned that Noul would continue inland toward Jiangxi, Hunan, and Hubei provinces.

Forecasters predicted heavy to torrential rain would lash much of Guangdong, southern Fujian, central and southern Jiangxi, southeastern Hunan, and southeastern Taiwan over the next 24 hours, with strong winds persisting as the system moves northwest.