Typhoon Champi sweeps past Taiwan, one dead and 500 injured
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- Typhoon Champi killed one person and injured 527 in Taiwan. It brought strong winds, fallen trees and power cuts, with more than 288,000 homes losing electricity.
- The storm weakened after passing Yilan County, but still had gusts of around 126kmh. It caused 242 flight cancellations and a second day of school and office closures in northern and central Taiwan.
- Champi is now moving north towards China’s coast and southern Japan. China has sent rescue teams, readied 41,000 firefighters and evacuated people and boats in Zhejiang.
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TAIPEI – Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Oct 24, killing one person and injuring more than 500, downing trees and severing power, as it continues to weaken and head north towards the Chinese coast, though it was not expected to make landfall there.
At one point a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific in 2026, Champi is weakening, though still packing gusts of around 126kmh near its centre, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA).
The storm was about 170km north-east of Taiwan, the CWA said, having glanced the island’s north-east coast in Yilan County early on Oct 24.
The centre of the storm turned south around midnight, hugging the Yilan coastline before making a rare loop offshore and moving northward away, triggering gusts of about 227kmh in some coastal areas, knocking down power lines and sending roof tiles flying.
‘Most terrifying around midnight’
“It was most terrifying around midnight,” said a retired teacher surnamed Lin as he inspected downed banana trees in his garden in Yilan.
“It was a sleepless night. I haven’t seen anything like this in many years.”
The storm’s forecast track shows it turning north, tracking up the Chinese coast and eventually moving into southern Japan.
Taiwan’s fire department said the death toll remained at one, a man swept away by waves from the island of Liuqiu, while 527 people were injured amid strong winds and torrential rain.
Taipower said at one point that more than 288,000 homes had lost electricity, though most had been reconnected.
The transport ministry said 259 flights were cancelled, though that was an improvement from Oct 23, when the number was almost 1,000.
In the capital Taipei, there were downed trees and on-off squally rain showers.
Taipei resident Thomas Wang, 70, said the storm felt like something out of the horror film Poltergeist.
“It was quite scary,” he said, when he was out running morning errands.
A swathe of northern and central Taiwan, including Taipei, declared a second day of office and school closures on Oct 24.
Taiwan is generally very well-prepared for typhoons, which keeps casualties low. Although more common in summer, the storms can strike in autumn too.
China’s emergency management ministry sent a team to the eastern province of Zhejiang as Champi approached, warning of strong winds and heavy rain through Oct 25.
It said 400 rescue workers and 600 pieces of equipment had been readied, while more than 41,000 firefighters were on emergency duty.
In Taizhou, a city on Zhejiang’s coast, more than 3,800 fishing boats returned to harbour, offshore fish-farm workers were brought ashore and 2,084 island visitors were evacuated, state media reported.
The authorities halted 25 offshore construction projects and suspended 18 passenger ferry routes. REUTERS