Typhoon Champi Shuts Schools, Offices and Markets Across Taiwan
Typhoon Champi forced Taiwan to close schools and offices and shut its stock exchange on Friday, 23 October, as the storm neared the island's north-east coast. BBC Work and classes were suspended in nearly all of Taiwan's 22 counties and cities. Only Kinmen county, a group of islands close to mainland China, kept working and holding classes as usual.
Hundreds of flights in East Asia were cancelled on Friday. In Japan, more than 160 flights were cancelled across four airlines, and power cuts were reported in nearly 8,400 households in Okinawa prefecture. BBC
On Friday afternoon, the typhoon was packing wind gusts of 191 km/h (119 mph). Forecasts called for 90 cm (35 inches) of rain and strong winds in north-east Taiwan until Saturday. Authorities said 1,000 people had been forced to evacuate, and 171 people had been injured.
One person died in the storm. Taiwan's Central Emergency Operation Center said a man was swept away by storm-driven waves on a beach on Liuqiu, a small island off the south-eastern coast of the main island. Liuqiu lies in Pingtung County, and the death occurred on Thursday. Focus Taiwan
Taiwan had issued a land warning on Thursday ahead of the storm's arrival. Reuters Champi is the 29th typhoon of 2026 according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, the island's weather agency, which uses the international name CHAMPI. Earlier in the week, the storm reached maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) over the Philippine Sea, which the BBC reported made it the strongest storm on the planet so far this year.
