BEIJING: Authorities have evacuated more than 20,000 people and suspended railway services in southern China as approaching Typhoon Noul threatens torrential rain and gale-force winds, according to state media.
The typhoon is forecast to make landfall in the coastal area stretching from Hong Kong to Guangdong province between Saturday (Jul 25) evening and Sunday morning, China’s National Meteorological Center said.
It maintained an orange typhoon alert on Saturday, the second-highest level in its four-tier system, after warning that parts of Guangdong and neighbouring Fujian province would experience gales and torrential rain.
More than 20,000 people had been evacuated in Guangdong, state broadcaster CCTV said in a bulletin late on Friday.
Fishing vessels operating at sea in the province had returned to ports to “shelter from the storm”, it added.
Guangdong will suspend some train services Saturday morning, with all train services in the province halted on Sunday, CCTV said.
Schools in Guangdong’s Chaozhou city were instructed to suspend on-campus activities, according to local media reports.
Hong Kong International Airport said on Saturday evening that the typhoon has begun to impact flight operations.
The airport said that as of 4.50pm, 29 departing and 20 arriving flights had been cancelled, while 126 departing and 112 arriving flights had been delayed.
It added that a “large number” of flights are expected to be affected on Sunday, and that the Airport Authority Hong Kong advises that passengers check their airlines’ latest announcements for flight information.
Singapore Airlines also said that three of its flights had been cancelled due to weather conditions caused by the typhoon, adding that it would be reaching out to passengers on the affected flights to inform them about changes to their flight schedules.
The affected flights are:
- SQ856 departing Singapore for Shenzhen at 8.45pm on Jul 25, 2026
- SQ855 departing Shenzhen for Singapore at 2.05am on Jul 26, 2026
- SQ899 departing Hong Kong for Singapore at 9.05am on Jul 26, 2026
Extreme weather has already wreaked havoc on southern and central China this month, with 39 people killed when Typhoon Maysak triggered devastating floods in Guangxi.
Maysak also caused thunderstorms and gale-force winds that killed 11 people and injured 331 in the central province of Hubei.
Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of global extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, but it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.
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