Typhoon Wipha Batters Hong Kong and Southern China, Hundreds of Flights Canceled

Wipha, the sixth typhoon of 2025, brought heavy rain and strong winds as it struck China’s southern coastal region.

A local resident attempts to clear a fallen tree from a beach path on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on July 21, 2025. Hong Kong returned to normal the day after Typhoon Wipha passed within 38 miles of the city, triggering the city's highest tropical cyclone warning, T10, for about seven hours on July 20, 2025. Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

A typhoon swept across Hong Kong and southern China on Sunday, July 20, unleashing torrential rain and hurricane-force winds that toppled trees, tore down scaffolding, and triggered widespread disruption, including the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Hong Kong authorities raised the city’s highest storm alert—Typhoon Signal No. 10—for nearly seven hours as Typhoon Wipha’s outer bands pounded the territory. Wind gusts reached up to 103 mph, and more than 4 inches of rain fell within just three hours.