Typhoon Noul, which triggered a No 9 signal on Sunday, made the third-closest approach to Hong Kong by a major storm this century, but it caused relatively minor damage in the city despite violent winds rattling buildings throughout the night.
It was the first No 9 signal issued since Super Typhoon Ragasa last September, which came within 100km (62 miles) of the city. Noul came within 80km, making it the third closest after Saola at 40km in 2023, and both Hato and Wipha at 60km in 2017 and 2025, respectively.
The closest typhoons on record remain Alice in 1961 and Shirley in 1968. The eyes of those storms passed directly over Hong Kong, bringing winds of 120 km/h (74.5mph) and 145 km/h respectively. The next closest over in the past century was York in 1999, which passed within 20 km of the city with winds of 130km/h. All three were classified as typhoons, two tiers below super typhoons.
The Observatory issued the No 8 signal at 10.10pm on Saturday, upgrading it to No 9 at 1.10am on Sunday as the storm closed in. Six hours later, at 7.10am, the warning was lowered to No 8, and by 12.40pm the No 3 signal was in force.
The storm made landfall near Huizhou at around 3.50am, with maximum sustained winds near its centre reaching 45 metres per second, making it the first typhoon to hit Guangdong this year.
About 360 flights and more than 190 high-speed rail services were cancelled on Sunday.