Southern China faces torrential rain, floods after Typhoon Noul makes landfall

East Asia Flash floods are expected in parts of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and southeastern Xinjiang from Sunday evening through Monday evening. Cleaners removing fallen branches and leaves from roads in Shenzhen, China in the aftermath of Typhoon Noul on Jul 26, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lan Yu) 26 Jul 2026 08:33PM (Updated: 26 Jul 2026 08:40PM) HONG KONG: Typhoon Noul will bring heavy to torrential rain across much of southern China for the next two days, authorities said, after sweeping through Guangdong province and neighbouring Hong Kong with gale-force winds following its landfall on Sunday (Jul 26).China issued its highest-level alert for flash floods in several provinces after the year's strongest typhoon forced the relocation of more than 700,000 people in Guangdong, authorities said.The Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued a red warning for flash floods.From Sunday evening through Monday evening, flash floods are expected in parts of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and southeastern Xinjiang. Authorities warned residents to "pay attention to real-time monitoring, flood warning, and evacuation and risk avoidance prevention". The warning came after Noul, the year's 12th tropical cyclone and China's third typhoon this month, made landfall in Huidong county at about 3.50am on Sunday, provincial officials said.Noul, which means the glow of sunrise or sunset in Korean, is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain as it moves inland, state broadcaster CCTV said, with rainfall likely to persist until Tuesday. Some areas, including Fujian province, could see extremely heavy downpours. People walk on a beach with debris from Typhoon Noul which passed close to Hong Kong on Jul 26, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Peter Parks) Authorities urged local governments to closely monitor flood-prone areas, including mountain and river regions, construction sites, valleys and bridges.The typhoon is weakening as it moves inland, Hong Kong's Observatory said, though southwesterly gales pounded parts of the Asian financial hub. All typhoon warning signals were cancelled on Sunday evening. Overnight, the storm had passed within 80km of Hong Kong.Hong Kong airport authorities said flights would gradually begin resuming on Sunday afternoon, after operations were largely suspended for more than 12 hours.At least 350 passenger flights departing and arriving from Hong Kong had been cancelled on Sunday, the airport's website showed.Airport authorities said flight operations will gradually begin resuming after 6pm.Twenty flights between Singapore and Hong Kong and Shenzhen were cancelled on Sunday, according to Changi Airport's flight information page. The affected flights were operated by Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Shenzhen Airlines and China Southern Airlines.