Typhoon Champi injures more than 500 in Taiwan
One dead as winds cut power to hundreds of thousands of households, Taipei closed for second day by a storm that never made landfall
Images
A structure built for a traditional Taoist religious ceremony in Keelung lies collapsed due to strong winds from Typhoon Champi. Photograph: I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images
theguardian.com
Waves generated by Typhoon Champi crash against a seawall in Keelung. Photograph: Ann Wang/Reuters
theguardian.com
Typhoon Champi kills 1 and injures 350 in Taiwan overnight as storm weakens
independent.co.uk
Typhoon Champi injured more than 500 people in Taiwan and killed one man, swept away by waves in Pingtung county at the island's southern end, as the storm glanced off the northeast coast in the early hours of Saturday and turned north toward China.
Champi was earlier classified as a super typhoon and ranked among the strongest storms in the Pacific this year. It never made direct landfall — its span was simply large enough to affect most of the island. Gusts near its centre reached about 126 kilometres per hour, and the Central Weather Administration placed the storm roughly 150 kilometres east of Taiwan as it passed.
The damage nonetheless ran across the island. Taipower, the state utility, said more than 167,000 homes lost electricity, with most reconnected by Saturday morning; United Daily News, citing the island's power authorities, put the households affected at 280,000. Northern and central Taiwan, including Taipei, declared a second day of office and school closures, and some flights were still being cancelled. In Keelung, a structure built for a traditional Taoist religious ceremony collapsed in the winds, and waves crashed over the city's seawall. In Taipei, the storm damaged the ceiling of a college dormitory.
The injury count rose overnight, from 350 by the Central Emergency Operations Center's tally on Friday night to 527 by the fire department's count on Saturday. Typhoons are more common in summer, though they can strike in autumn; Taiwan is generally well prepared for them, which keeps the casualty count at one dead. The storm weakened through the day, and weather authorities expected to lift land warnings by evening. Champi's forecast track turns toward the Chinese coast before moving into southern Japan.
Taiwan produces the bulk of the world's most advanced semiconductors. Its capital spent two days closed by a storm that never made landfall.