Typhoon Noul struck the coast of Huidong county in Guangdong province early Sunday. The storm's 145 kph winds triggered the evacuation of more than 340,000 residents and disrupted regional transit.
The 340,000-Person Exodus from Guangdong
The scale of the emergency response to Typhoon Noul highlights the severity of the system's approach to the Chinese mainland. According to state broadcaster CCTV, more than 340,000 peope were relocated to safety in Guangdong province by Saturday afternoon to avoid the storm's primary impact zone.. The evacuation effort was a preemptive strike against the potential for catastrophic flooding and structural failure.
The storm officially made landfall in Huidong county, located within Huizhou, Guangdong province, at approximately 3:50 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to China's national weather center. With sustained winds reaching 145 kilometers per hour (90 mph) near its center, Typhoon Noul brought a combination of torrential rain and poweerful gusts that forced a total shutdown of several critical infrastructure networks.
From Huidong County to Hong Kong's Collapsed Scaffolding
The physical impact of Typhoon Noul extended beyond the immediate landfall site in Huidong county, causing significant urban disruption in nearby hubs. In Hong Kong, the storm's intensity led to a structural failure on Saturday afternoon when a large section of scaffolding on a high-rise building collapsed. While police reported that no injuries were sustained during the collapse, the incident serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of dense urban environments to high-velocity winds.
Transportation networks across the region suffered near-total paralysis. As confirmed by China News Service, train services within Guangdong province were cancelled for Sunday, and dozens of flights were called off.. These cancellations left thousands of travelers stranded, complicating the logistics of the region's emergency response and civilian movement.
A Pattern of Chaos: From Typhoon Maysak to Bavi
Typhoon Noul is not an isolated event but part of a punishing sequence of weather systems hitting the Pacific coast. This storm follows closely on the heels of Typhoon Maysak, which struck southern China on July 3, and Typhoon Bavi, which made landfall on July 11. The scale of Bavi was particularly staggering, necessitating the evacuation of more than 2 million people in eastern China.
This cluster of storms suggests a hyper-active Pacific typhoon season that is testing the limits of regional disaster preparedness. the recurring nature of these events means that local governments in Guangdong and Fujian provinces are operating in a state of near-constant mobilization, leaving little time for full recovery between systems.
The Flood Risk in Southeastern Fujian
While Typhoon Noul is gradually weakening as it moves inland, the danger has not yet passed for all regions. The National Meteorological Center has forecast that heavy rain and strong winds will persist throughout the weekend in southern Guangdong and southeastern Fujian provinces. The primary concern now shifts from wind damage to the threat of landslides and flash flooding in these saturated areas .
Despite the detailed weather tracking, several critical details remain unverified. It is currently unclear how many of the 340,000 evacuated residents in Guangdong province have been able to return to their homes, or what the total economic cost of the transportation shutdowns will be. Furthermore, while Taiwan's Central Weather Administration noted that Typhoon Noul delivered rainfall to the island's southern and eastern regions, the full extent of agricultural damage in Taiwan has not yet been reported.
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