According to the Philippines' weather bureau, Noul made landfall in Santa Ana, a coastal town in Cagayan province Sunday afternoon local time.

Norma Talosig, the civil defense regional director, says that around 2,500 residents evacuated to safety and no damage or injuries have been reported.

Public works personnel were using chain saws to clear roads of fallen trees in Cagayan's Gonzaga town, DZMM radio reported. Some towns in the province were without power.

Forecasters warned of 1.75-yard-high storm surges in Santa Ana, which also includes Palaui Island, with a population of about 30,000 people.

They said the typhoon was expected to weaken after hitting land, and to move faster as it rides strong surrounding winds. It is forecast to blow out of the country Tuesday morning and head toward southern Japan.

About 300 people who had fled to shelters near Mount Bulusan, southeast of Manila, returned home Sunday after the typhoon moved northward, sparing the province mudslides involving volcanic debris, said Joric dela Rosa, a civil defense worker in the region.

The coast guard suspended ferry services in areas affected by the typhoon, stranding more than 5,000 passengers.

About 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines each year. The strongest on record to make landfall, Typhoon Haiyan, devastated the central Philippines in November 2013, claiming more than 7,300 lives.