Tropical Storm Kiyapo (internationally named Noul) intensified on Friday, July 25, as it approached the northern Philippines, with sustained winds reaching 75 km/h and gusts of up to 90 km/h, prompting Philippine weather authority PAGASA to place parts of Batanes and Cagayan province under Signal No. 2 — indicating a minor to moderate threat to life and property. The storm is expected to pass close to or make landfall over Cagayan's Babuyan Islands (a remote island group off the northern tip of Luzon), bringing heavy to intense rainfall across Northern Luzon and raising flood and landslide alerts for the region. After clearing the islands, Kiyapo could rapidly intensify into a typhoon over the West Philippine Sea before exiting Philippine territory by Saturday morning and tracking toward China.