Typhoon Champi kills one and injures over 500 in Taiwan as storm weakens toward China and Japan

Damage and casualties in Taiwan

Typhoon Champi passed over Taiwan on Saturday, 24 October, killing one person and injuring more than 500 people since Thursday, when the government began issuing warnings. Taiwan's Central Emergency Operations Center reported 350 injured as of Friday night, and later reports put the total above 500. The one death was a man washed away by waves in Pingtung county, the island's southernmost region. Although the typhoon did not make a direct landfall, its wide span affected most of the island.

The storm downed trees and signs, damaged smaller structures and tore off the ceiling of a college dorm in Taipei. According to the Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News, citing power authorities, about 280,000 households lost electricity at one point. By Saturday morning, power had returned to 80% of those households. Crews were mobilized on Saturday to restore supply to the remaining homes, and about 56,000 households were still without power according to other reports.

Evacuations and closures

More than 5,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the storm arrived, and brief flooding occurred in many places. Authorities recorded almost 24 centimetres of rain on Saturday in Miaoli county in western Taiwan. Most shops in northern and central Taiwan stayed closed for a second consecutive day, and schools and offices in several areas, including Taipei, remained shut on Saturday. Taiwan's transport authority said 259 flights were cancelled on Saturday, an improvement on Friday, when nearly 1,000 flights were cancelled.

Champi moves toward China and Japan

The typhoon was weakening as it moved north toward the Chinese coast, but it is not expected to make landfall in China. Chinese authorities sent a working group to Zhejiang province and warned of strong winds and heavy rain before Sunday. Authorities said 400 rescue workers and 600 sets of equipment were ready, with more than 41,000 firefighters on standby. State media warned that Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other regions could see heavy, even torrential rain, and tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Shanghai. Some rail services were suspended.

In Japan, dozens of flights were cancelled in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures, and two people were reported injured. A woman of about 70 was hurt in Miyakojima when she fell in strong winds, and a 7-year-old girl was hurt when a window burst in Yonaguni. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the system could reach Kyushu on Monday, 26 October, after losing strength.

Intensity and the El Niño season

Champi briefly reached super-typhoon status while crossing the Pacific, with sustained winds of nearly 300 km/h. Its winds reached 176 km/h on Saturday, according to the latest report from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Taiwan's Central Weather Administration said the winds and waves around the island remained strong as the storm moved north. The storm is one of the most intense in the Pacific this year, a season the United Nations has linked to El Niño, which is expected to peak in December.

Although the period of the typhoon's greatest impact has passed, we want to remind everyone that the winds and waves in the waters around Taiwan remain strong as the typhoon…