strengthened into a Category 1-equivalent typhoon as it developed a ragged wide eye. The JMA later upgraded it to a severe tropical storm at 00:00 UTC on the next day. On July 20, at 06:00 UTC, Cempaka peaked as a severe tropical storm with 10-sustained maximum wind speed of with minimum pressure of , according to JMA. JTWC assessed that it peaked as a typhoon with maximum 1-minute sustained wind of . Cempaka made landfall near Jiangcheng District, Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, and the JTWC downgraded it to a tropical storm at 18:00 UTC the same day as its low-level circulation center became obscure. The JMA also downgraded Cempaka to a tropical storm at 00:00 UTC the next day as it moved further inland and its central dense overcast disappeared. At 09:00 UTC, the JTWC further downgraded Cempaka to a tropical depression as its deep convection declined; however, it still retained a well-defined wind field. After moving inland, Cempaka started moving westward at 00:00 UTC on July 21 due to weak steering flow. Remaining inland, Cempaka maintained tropical storm intensity as it continued westward, but due to unfavorable conditions over land, it weakened into a tropical depression on the next day at 00:00 UTC. On July 22, at 09:00 UTC, Cempaka then moved southwards towards the Gulf of Tonkin because of the influence of the monsoonal westerlies, while maintaining its tropical depression intensity inland. Cempaka moved southward, crossed Móng Cái, Quảng Ninh Province in Vietnam and later entered the Gulf of Tonkin at 03:00 UTC. However, Cempaka further weakened despite the presence of warm sea surface temperatures because of high monsoonal wind shear and land interaction. At 15:00 UTC, the JTWC issued its final warning on the system as it became a weakly defined system with an exposed low-level circulation center over Bạch Long Vĩ Island. On July 26 at 00:00 UTC, the JMA issued its last advisory. In preparation for the tropical depression, the HKO issued a Signal No. 1 warning for Hong Kong at 13:40 UTC on July 18, which was later upgraded to a Signal No. 3 warning as Cempaka neared the Pearl River Delta. However, as it moved away from Hong Kong, the HKO downgraded it to a Signal No. 1 warning, which was later cancelled at 11:40 UTC. The CMA issued an orange alert for the southern provinces of China as Cempaka moved closer to Guangdong,