Typhoon Champi sweeps past Taiwan, leaving one dead and more than 500 injured

Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan's north-east coast overnight into Saturday 24 October, leaving one person dead and 527 injured, Taiwan's emergency operations centre said. The storm had been a super typhoon and was one of the strongest in the Pacific this year, but it weakened as it moved away from the island.

The death was a man swept off a beach by storm-driven waves in Liuqiu Township, in Pingtung County, on Thursday, before the typhoon's closest approach. Most of the injured were in Taipei and Taichung. The centre attributed the injuries to fallen trees, downed power cables, billboards and damaged water pipes.

Wind, power and flights

At 10am on Saturday the Central Weather Administration (CWA) placed the storm about 170 km east-north-east of Yilan County, moving north at 21 kph. Maximum sustained winds were 126 kph, with gusts up to 162 kph. At exposed coastal points the wind was stronger: gusts above 220 kph were recorded late on Friday at Sandiao Cape, Taiwan's easternmost point.

According to Reuters, the storm brushed Yilan's coast early on Saturday, then turned south around midnight and looped offshore. State power company Taipower said more than 288,000 households lost electricity, and most had been reconnected by Saturday. Taiwan's transport ministry put Saturday's flight cancellations at 259, compared with almost 1,000 on Friday. Offices and schools in northern and central Taiwan, including Taipei, stayed shut for a second day.

The CWA's Wu Wan-hua, deputy head of its forecast centre, said the system should drop to tropical storm strength by Saturday afternoon and that the land warning should be lifted that evening. Waves of more than six metres were recorded in waters north and east of Taiwan. Heavy rain was easing, and the CWA expected it to taper off from Saturday night into Sunday.

"It was most terrifying around midnight," said Lin, a retired teacher in Yilan, who added that he had not seen anything like it in many years.

China prepares

Champi was forecast to continue north along China's coast without making landfall there, and then turn towards southern Japan. Chinese authorities nonetheless prepared for gales and heavy rain lasting until Sunday. The emergency management ministry sent a team to Zhejiang province, put 400 rescuers and 600 items of equipment on standby, and placed more than 41,000 firefighters on duty.

In Taizhou, in Zhejiang, over 3,800 fishing boats came back into port and 2,084 visitors to islands were evacuated. Eighteen passenger ferry routes were suspended, and 25 offshore construction projects were put on hold.

The weather administration said it expected to lift its sea warning on Saturday night, once the storm had moved further away from the island.