Soudelor had severe impacts in the Northern Mariana Islands, Taiwan, and eastern China, resulting in 40 confirmed fatalities.

The thirteenth named storm of the annual typhoon season, Soudelor formed as a tropical depression near Pohnpei on July 29.

Owing to favorable environmental conditions, the typhoon further deepened and reached its peak intensity with ten-minute maximum sustained winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) and a central atmospheric pressure of 900 hPa (mbar; 26.58 inHg) on August 3.

Typhoon Soudelor killed 45 people in eastern China after parts of the country were hit by the heaviest rains in a century.

[1] On July 28, 2015, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)[nb 1] began monitoring a tropical disturbance about 415 km (258 mi) north of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

[3] Moving generally west under the influence of a subtropical ridge,[4] the disturbance gradually organized amid favorable environmental conditions.

A tropical upper tropospheric trough (TUTT) cell enhanced upper-level outflow, offsetting the negative effects of moderate wind shear; high sea surface temperatures and ocean heat content provided ample energy for further development.

[10] The cyclone achieved tropical storm intensity by 12:00 UTC, at which time it was assigned the name Soudelor, a title of legendary rulers in the Pohnpeian language.

[15][16] Following a retreat of the TUTT cell northward,[17] Soudelor's convective structure improved with well-defined banding features wrapping into the circulation by August 1.

[18] The organizing storm, with a redeveloped central dense overcast, soon entered a region favoring rapid intensification, including low wind shear, sea surface temperatures of 31–32 °C (88–90 °F) and high ocean heat content.

[20] Rapid intensification ensued on August 2 as the storm approached the Northern Mariana Islands with both agencies classifying Soudelor as a typhoon.

[26] On August 5, PAGASA reported that the Typhoon Soudelor entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility assigning the name Hanna.

[28][29] Around 14:10 UTC (22:10 CST) on the same day, Soudelor made landfall over Xiuyu District, Putian, Fujian in China as a Category 1-equivalent typhoon.

[citation needed] Typhoon Soudelor passed directly over Saipan on August 2 as an intensifying Category 2 equivalent storm according to the JTWC,[32] causing widespread damage on the island.

Philip Dauterman of the Commonwealth Health Center in Saipan likened damage to that caused by Typhoon Pongsona which struck Guam in December 2002.

[37] In addition, John Hirsh from the American Red Cross said that Soudelor is the most damaging cyclone to hit Saipan since Typhoon Kim in 1986 struck the island nearly thirty years prior.

[39] On August 6, United States President Barack Obama declared the Northern Mariana Islands a federal disaster area, allowing residents to receive government aid.

[46] Prior to striking Taiwan, the circulation of Typhoon Soudelor battered Japan's southern Ryukyu Islands with typhoon-force winds.

[49] In Miyako-jima, crops sustained significant damage from salt; relatively little rain coupled with strong winds allowed sea spray to travel farther inland than normal.

[54] A contaminated Nanshi River suffered a drastic overflow, and soon mixed with the primary water source of the Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area.

[63] Approximately 100 people were listed as missing after contact was lost with Xiaoyi village (Siaoyi) in Wulai District of New Taipei City during the storm on August 8.

[67] Typhoon Soudelor killed 45 people in eastern China after parts of the country were hit by the heaviest rains in a century.

[1] Making landfall in Fujian around 10:10 p.m. local time on August 8, the storm brought damaging winds to coastal cities in the region.

[68] Typhoon Soudelor's proximity to the Philippines prompted PAGASA to issue Public Storm Warning Signal#1, the lowest on a five-tier scale, for Batanes and Cagayan provinces, including the Calayan islands, from August 6–8.

[72] Hong Kong experienced its hottest day on August 8, since records began, as a result of air descending on the outer fringe of Soudelor.

[74] The typhoon's remnants brought locally heavy rain to parts of South Korea on August 11, with accumulations reaching 25 to 60 mm (0.98 to 2.4 in).

[75] Due to the destruction and deaths caused by the storm in the Northern Mariana Islands, Taiwan and China, the name Soudelor was officially retired at the Fourth Joint Session of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee and WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones during 2016.