Typhoon Champi Leaves Thousands Without Power in Taiwan

Emergency crews were working on Saturday to restore electricity to thousands of homes in Taiwan after Typhoon Champi brought strong winds and heavy rain to the island as it moved towards China and Japan.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated before the storm struck, with strong winds uprooting trees, damaging power lines and causing flooding in some areas.

One person has died, and more than 500 others have been injured since Thursday, when authorities began issuing warnings about the approaching typhoon.

About 56,000 households remained without electricity on Saturday, while nearly 24 centimetres (9.4 inches) of rain was recorded in Miaoli county in western Taiwan.

Most shops in northern and central Taiwan remained closed for a second day as Champi moved away from the island’s northeast and headed north towards China and Japan.

Central Weather Administration official Wuu Woan-hwa said the worst of the storm had passed but warned residents that strong winds and rough seas remained around Taiwan as Champi moved north.

“Although the period of the typhoon’s most severe impact has passed, we would like to remind everyone that winds and waves in the waters around Taiwan remain strong as the typhoon moves northwards,” Wuu Woan-hwa said. 

Champi briefly reached super typhoon strength while crossing the Pacific, with maximum sustained winds approaching 300 kilometres (186 miles) per hour.

Its winds had weakened to 120 kph by Saturday, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.

The storm also weakened as it moved in a loop off Taiwan’s northeastern Yilan county, where about 65 centimetres of rain had fallen since Thursday, according to the forecaster.

Martha Wang, a 55-year-old secretary, described being frightened by the strong winds while riding her scooter across a bridge in New Taipei City.

She said her scooter shook as she crossed the bridge and that she feared being blown away.

William Yu, a 55-year-old librarian, said he was less concerned, describing the storm as no stronger than other typhoons he had experienced.

Authorities in China warned of strong winds and heavy rain as Champi approached the country’s eastern coast, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Some train services were suspended and tens of thousands of people were evacuated in Shanghai.

CCTV said parts of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang were expected to experience heavy to torrential rainfall.

Dozens of flights were cancelled across the region, including in Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture, where authorities reported two people injured by the storm.

Tourists on Ishigaki island waited for flights to resume so they could return home.

Eva Malek, a 49-year-old tourist from Poland, said she hoped it would be her last day on the island, adding that visitors had struggled to get information about the storm.

Champi is the latest in a busy Pacific storm season that has been heightened by the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has contributed to unusually warm conditions in the equatorial Pacific.

The typhoon briefly reached super typhoon status as it crossed the Pacific, with reported maximum sustained winds of nearly 300 kilometres per hour.

The United Nations warned on Wednesday that the El Niño system was becoming unusually strong and urged countries to prepare for its potential impacts.