Typhoon Champi Strikes Taiwan Killing One and Injuring at Least 350, With More Than 4,300 People Evacuated
Typhoon Champi has struck Taiwan, killing one person and injuring at least 350 others, as authorities warned of 'destructive winds' and instructed people to stay indoors.
The storm swept past the island's northeast on Friday, toppling trees, shutting shops and schools, cutting power to thousands of households, and forcing more than 4,300 people to evacuate from their homes.
Champi is now heading towards China and Japan, and hundreds of flights in the region have been cancelled because of it. Its impact is therefore spreading beyond Taiwan to neighbouring countries.
'From tonight through tomorrow morning conditions will be very windy and stormy everywhere,' Central Weather Administration forecaster Lin Ping-yu said in a briefing. 'Please try to stay indoors.'
Champi was briefly a super typhoon with winds of nearly 300 kilometres per hour, but it has since weakened. The US Joint Typhoon Warning Center reported maximum winds of 185 kilometres per hour.
Worse is still expected to come on Saturday. According to the CWA, Champi could drop up to 900 millimetres of rain between Thursday and Saturday, with the northeast hit hardest. More than 400 millimetres fell in Yilan County on Friday.
CWA forecaster Lu Kuo-chen said the typhoon could slow near the island's northeastern tip, prolonging its impact. A slower storm means rain and strong winds lingering longer over the same area.
About 8,400 households in Japan's Okinawa islands were without power on Friday afternoon, according to the Okinawa Electric Power Company. Champi is forecast to hover near Okinawa and then move towards China's eastern coast before turning northeast towards mainland Japan.
Champi is the latest storm in a Pacific season supercharged by El Nino, bringing the wider weather pattern behind the storm into focus.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that El Nino, a natural cycle that warms the tropical Pacific, is heading off the charts. 'The current El Nino event could be unprecedented in strength. Literally off the monitoring charts that we have used for the past four decades,' said Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization.
El Nino is expected to peak in December, with its impact lasting into 2027 and beyond. The risk of powerful storms like Champi, therefore, may not be limited to this single event.
Meanwhile, the warnings remain in force in Taiwan. With trees toppled, power cut and heavy rain continuing, people have been told to stay indoors, and all eyes are now on how the situation develops on Saturday.
