Climate & Environment
Typhoon Champi leaves one dead, 527 injured in Taiwan
The storm skirted Taiwan's northeast coast without making landfall on the main island. Officials reported one death and hundreds of injuries from wind and rain damage.
Executive summary
- The updated toll: Taiwan's Central Emergency Operations Center reported one death and 527 injuries as of Saturday morning. Most injuries were in Taipei and Taichung and were linked to falling trees, power lines, billboards and damaged water pipes.[1]
- The storm moved away: The Central Weather Administration placed Champi about 170 kilometers east-northeast of Yilan County at 10 a.m. Saturday, moving north. The National Fire Agency later said the storm had weakened and was gradually moving away, while urging the public to remain cautious.[1][2]
- Counts have different cutoffs: The Associated Press reported 350 injuries based on the emergency center's Friday-night count. The 527 figure was a later Saturday-morning tally, not a competing final total.[3][1][4]
Taiwan's Central Emergency Operations Center said one person had died and 527 had been injured as of Saturday morning after Typhoon Champi brought strong winds and heavy rain across the island. The casualties included a man swept away by storm-driven waves from a beach in Liuqiu Township, Pingtung County. The center said most injuries were in Taipei and Taichung and were caused by falling trees, electrical cables and billboards, as well as damaged water pipes.[1]
The toll rose as the storm passed. The Associated Press cited 350 injuries from the emergency center's Friday-night count in an early Saturday report. Focus Taiwan, the English-language service of Taiwan's Central News Agency, reported the later 527 figure; Reuters independently reported the same updated toll on Saturday.[3][1][4]
Taiwan's Central Weather Administration said Champi's center was about 170 kilometers east-northeast of Yilan County at 10 a.m. Saturday, moving north at 21 kilometers per hour. At that point, the agency reported maximum sustained winds of 126 kph and gusts up to 162 kph near the center. The storm did not make landfall on Taiwan's main island.[1]
In its eighth operational briefing on Champi, Taiwan's National Fire Agency said the typhoon had weakened and was gradually moving away, but warned the public not to let its guard down. The agency did not say that all storm-related hazards or cleanup had ended.[2]
The cover is a NOAA-20 VIIRS satellite photograph distributed through NASA EOSDIS Worldview, captured on Oct. 20 as Champi neared peak intensity over the western Pacific. It is an earlier view of the same storm, not a photograph of damage in Taiwan.[5]