Since July, typhoons "Maysak" and "Bavi," followed by Typhoon No. 12 "Noul," have made landfall one after another along China's southern and eastern coasts, forcing nearly 900,000 residents to evacuate and leaving thousands stranded at airports as damage spreads. Meanwhile, in northwestern Gansu province, a debris flow triggered by heavy rain caused an accident that killed at least 10 people, heightening concern.
According to China's National Meteorological Center on the 27th, Typhoon Noul made landfall at 3:50 a.m. on the 26th along the coast of Pinghai Township, Huidong County, Huizhou City, Guangdong province. At landfall, the maximum wind speed near the center was 45 meters per second (level 14), and the minimum central pressure was 955 hectopascals (hPa). That is a gale strong enough to make it hard for an adult to stand, and the peak wind at landfall exceeds that of Typhoon "Hinnamnor" (40 meters per second), which swept through Pohang in 2022. China's meteorological authorities said it was the strongest among typhoons that have made landfall east of the Pearl River estuary in the past 10 years.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, Noul forced a total of about 896,000 residents to evacuate in Guangdong province as of the previous day. Train services were suspended in some areas, and mass flight cancellations caused transport disruptions. In nearby Hong Kong, 350 flights were canceled in a single day the previous day, stranding more than 2,000 passengers, and at least 21 people were injured across the city. The China Meteorological Administration forecast that up to 250–450 millimeters of torrential rain would fall through the day in southern Fujian province, central and southern Jiangxi province, and eastern Hunan province, including Guangdong.
Powerful winds brought by the typhoon caused hair-raising accidents in several places. On the 25th in Longgang District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong province, social media carried video of a 6-year-old girl inside a roadside shop being swept up by a sudden gust while in a toddler bed and blown into a roadside greenbelt. The strong wind appears to have forcefully pushed open the shop door, sweeping the child along with the bed. After landing on the grass, the child got up by herself and ran back into the store, and there were no reported injuries.
In Guangzhou City, a large concert was canceled just before showtime. The nationwide tour performance by the 10-member Chinese group "Shige Qintian (十个勤天)," scheduled for 7 p.m. the previous day, was canceled about an hour and 30 minutes before it was to begin. Guangzhou's Huangpu District disaster authorities ordered the cancellation due to a yellow typhoon alert and forecasts of heavy rain and strong winds. Many attendees had already arrived at the venue or were en route, and because the organizers announced the cancellation only right before the start, confusion and complaints followed on site.
Disaster authorities issued a national level-4 disaster relief emergency response in Guangdong province and dispatched a working team to the scene. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) also decided to urgently provide a central budget allocation of 100 million yuan (about 21.7 billion won) for recovery.
Meanwhile, on the same day at a tourist site in northwestern Gansu province, a debris flow caused by heavy rain killed at least 10 people and injured 23. Local media reported that tourists camping in low-lying valley areas during the summer vacation season were swept away by a sudden torrent. Chinese authorities have activated a national level-4 flood emergency response and deployed 305 firefighters and 68 vehicles for rescue operations. Analysts say the combination of intense downpours in a short period and canyon terrain caused river levels to surge rapidly, worsening the damage.
China has faced successive damage from typhoons and heavy rain this month. Early in the month, Typhoon Maysak slammed Hainan and Guangxi, halting flights and passenger ferries and causing large-scale flooding, and in the middle of the month, Bavi made landfall along the eastern coast including Zhejiang province, prompting the evacuation of more than 1.7 million people. With Noul now battering Guangdong, China's southern and eastern coasts have experienced nearly a month of typhoon and heavy rain damage. China's meteorological authorities say the typhoon has weakened, but due to the remaining rain clouds, heavy rain is expected to continue in the south and central regions, and alerts remain in place.