Taiwan's emergency operations center reported one death and 350 injuries as of 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23. On Saturday, Taiwan's fire department put injuries at 527, according to Reuters. The storm glanced off Taiwan's northeast coast and is weakening as it heads toward China and Japan.
In this article
Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Oct. 23-24, killing one person and injuring hundreds, according to Taiwan’s emergency officials and wire reports. Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operations Center reported 350 injuries as of 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Reuters reported on Saturday that Taiwan’s fire department counted 527 injuries. The tallies come from different agencies at different times, and they rose as the storm passed.
Reuters, citing Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA), reported that Champi was weakening and about 170 km (106 miles) northeast of Taiwan on Saturday, still packing gusts of around 126 kph (78 mph) near its center.
What happened
Champi was at one point a super typhoon, and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera, citing AFP and Reuters, said it briefly had winds of nearly 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) before weakening.
Heavy rain and wind spread across Taiwan on Friday. The Taipei Times reported that the storm’s circle had enveloped the island. Reuters said governments in a swathe of northern and central Taiwan, including Taipei, declared a second day of office and school closures on Saturday, and that wind gusts touched 227 kph (141 mph) in some coastal areas, knocking down power lines and sending roof tiles flying. AP reported downed trees and signs, some smaller structures, and the ceiling of a college dorm in Taipei.
The one death was a man swept away by waves. The Central Emergency Operations Center said he was at a beach in Liouciou Township, Pingtung County, on Thursday, Oct. 22. Police and firefighters were alerted shortly before noon, he was found without vital signs at about 2 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at about 5 p.m., the Taipei Times reported. Reuters described the location as the island of Liuqiu, which is the same place under another spelling.
Latest figures, with times
- Injuries, early Friday: 94 as of 6:30 a.m. Friday, the Central Emergency Operations Center said. Scooter accidents or traffic collisions accounted for 30, falls for 16, and 10 involved people struck by fallen billboards, tree branches or other objects, the Taipei Times reported.
- Injuries, Friday evening: 350 as of 7:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Central Emergency Operations Center, as reported by the Taipei Times and the AP.
- Injuries, Saturday: 527, according to Taiwan’s fire department, as reported by Reuters. Al Jazeera, citing AFP and Reuters, also reported more than 500 injured.
- Power: Taipower said more than 288,000 homes had lost electricity, though most had been reconnected, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera said crews were sent on Saturday to restore power to about 56,000 households still without it.
- Flights: Taiwan’s transport ministry said 259 flights were cancelled on Saturday, down from almost 1,000 on Friday, per Reuters.
- Evacuations: Counts vary. The Taipei Times reported that more than 2,600 people had been evacuated from vulnerable, mountainous areas, while Al Jazeera reported more than 5,000 people evacuated from their homes.
The injury counts above should not be added together. They are successive snapshots, and the Saturday figure comes from a different agency than the Friday evening figure.
Did Champi make landfall?
Reports describe the storm passing along the northeast coast rather than coming ashore. CWA deputy director Wu Wan-hua said on Friday that “the chance of a landfall is low,” the Taipei Times reported, though CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said landfall could not be ruled out if the storm “stalls, loops or wobbles from side to side.” On Saturday, Reuters said the storm “glanced off” the northeast coast in Yilan County early that day, and the center turned south around midnight, hugged the Yilan coastline, and made a rare loop offshore. The AP said Champi “did not hit Taiwan directly,” though its span was large enough to affect most of the island.
The sources reviewed for this article do not report a landfall, and this article does not claim one. Check the CWA for its official track and classification.
Why the impact was so wide
Liu said the storm’s wind radius was “quite large, among the bigger ones in recent years,” and that if it slowed, “the strong winds will affect Taiwan for longer.” At 8 p.m. Friday, the CWA reported maximum sustained winds of 155 kph and a wind radius of 320 km, the Taipei Times said.
Rain was the other driver. The CWA said cumulative rainfall at the Taipingshan station in Yilan County exceeded 500 mm as of 7 p.m. Friday, reaching the extremely torrential rain level. It forecast 600 to 900 mm in New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Yilan from Thursday through midnight Saturday. Al Jazeera reported that Yilan had received 650 mm of rain since Thursday.
Al Jazeera described Champi as the latest storm in a Pacific season supercharged by El Niño, and quoted World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo as saying the current El Niño “could be unprecedented in strength.” That is context for the season, not a finding about this storm.
What happens next
The AP reported that Taiwan’s weather authorities said the storm was weakening Saturday morning and that the typhoon land warnings would be removed by evening. Reuters said the forecast track turns north along the Chinese coast and then into southern Japan, and that the storm was not expected to make landfall in China.
Chinese authorities have prepared. Reuters reported that China’s emergency management ministry readied 400 rescue workers in Zhejiang province, and that more than 3,800 fishing boats returned to harbor in Taizhou. Al Jazeera reported that about 8,400 households in Japan’s Okinawa islands lost power on Friday afternoon, and that the Japanese government said two people were injured there.
Safety information from officials
- Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operations Center urged the public to refrain from wave-watching along the coast, warned residents in exposed areas to beware of strong gusts, and said emergency warnings would be sent through the Public Warning Cell Broadcast Service when necessary, the Taipei Times reported.
- Residents in affected areas should follow the Central Weather Administration and local government announcements for warnings, closures and evacuation orders.
Sources
- Reuters via The Standard (Hong Kong), Typhoon Champi sweeps past Taiwan, leaving 1 dead, 500 injured (Oct. 24, 2026), accessed Oct. 24, 2026.
- The Associated Press via ABC News, Typhoon Champi kills 1 and injures 350 in Taiwan overnight as storm weakens (Oct. 23, 2026), accessed Oct. 24, 2026.
- Al Jazeera (AFP and Reuters), Typhoon Champi hits Taiwan, killing one and injuring hundreds (Oct. 23, 2026), accessed Oct. 24, 2026.
- Taipei Times, Typhoon Champi leaves 1 dead, 94 injured on approach (Oct. 23, 2026), accessed Oct. 24, 2026.
- Taipei Times, Typhoon Champi’s storm circle envelops Taiwan (Oct. 23, 2026), accessed Oct. 24, 2026.
- Taipei Times, Typhoon Champi shuts down Taiwan (Oct. 24, 2026), accessed Oct. 24, 2026.
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