Typhoon Noul batters Hong Kong as China evacuates hundreds of thousands

Typhoon Noul ripped through a Hong Kong construction zone on Saturday, sending scaffolding from a high-rise under construction crashing onto a neighboring building in Kowloon as the city braced for stronger winds and rising storm warnings. Hong Kong police said they received numerous calls about the collapse at about 4:11 p.m., and no injuries were reported.

The Hong Kong Observatory considered issuing the No. 9 warning signal between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., then later hoisted the T9 signal as the storm closed in. With maximum sustained winds of about 90 mph near its center, Noul was moving across the South China Sea toward the territory and southern China, and exposed construction sites and nearby residents were in its path.

Across the border in Guangdong province, officials evacuated more than 340,000 people as the storm approached landfall, and another count put the total above 700,000. Noul was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in China so far this year and the 12th typhoon of the season.

Transport networks in Hong Kong and southern China were hit as the storm moved in. Dozens of flights were canceled, and the total climbed to hundreds across Hong Kong and southern China; rail and other services were also disrupted. The storm made landfall in Guangdong province early Sunday, then weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland, still driving heavy rain and strong winds across southern China.

Noul reached land around 2:50 p.m. local time in Guangdong, while landfall was also timed at about 3:50 p.m. in Huidong County, Huizhou City.