The key facts

  • One person killed and at least 527 injured in Taiwan due to Typhoon Champi
  • About 280,000 households left without power; by Saturday morning electricity had been restored for 80%
  • 259 flights canceled; Chinese authorities sent rescue teams to Zhejiang province

Casualties and injuries

Typhoon Champi swept across Taiwan on Saturday, killing at least one person and leaving more than 500 injured. According to the island's fire service, the death toll stands at one: a man was swept away by waves off Liuqiu Island. At least 527 more people were injured amid strong winds and heavy rain, Deutsche Welle reports.

Power outages and transport disruption

Heavy rainfall and strong winds hit several parts of Taiwan, prompting authorities to cut off electricity supplies. According to the local newspaper United Daily News, about 280,000 households were left without power; by Saturday morning, electricity had been restored for 80% of them. The Ministry of Transportation reported 259 flight cancellations — noticeably fewer than the nearly 1,000 cancellations on Friday. In the capital Taipei, strong gusts of wind brought down several trees.

School and office closures

Authorities in a number of districts in northern and central Taiwan, including Taipei, declared Saturday the second consecutive day of office and school closures due to Champi.

The storm is heading toward China

The typhoon continued to weaken as it moved north toward the Chinese coast, but it is not expected to make landfall there. Chinese authorities sent a team to the eastern province of Zhejiang ahead of the storm's approach, warning of strong winds and heavy rain through Sunday. According to them, 400 rescue workers and 600 pieces of equipment have been prepared, and more than 41,000 firefighters are on emergency standby.

The storm's strength

Champi began as a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year. According to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration (CWA), despite weakening, wind gusts near the center of the cyclone reach about 78 km/h. Editorial comment: the scale of the consequences — hundreds injured, massive power outages and nearly a thousand canceled flights the day before — shows that even a weakening storm of this kind retains its destructive potential, and infrastructure recovery is proceeding quickly but not instantly: by Saturday morning, a fifth of the affected households were still without power.