Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan's east coast and left one person dead and 527 injured, according to a tally released by the Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) on Saturday morning. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) expects to lift the land warning on Saturday evening and the sea warning later that night, as the storm pulls away to the north.
Most of the injuries occurred in Taipei and Taichung and were caused by falling trees, downed power cables, dislodged billboards and damaged water pipes, according to the CEOC.
The only death was at the beach
The man who died was swept away by storm-driven waves at a beach below the Beauty Cave, in Liuqiu Township, Pingtung County, on Thursday. Police received the call shortly before noon, his body was found around 2pm, and he was pronounced dead at about 5pm.
The injury count climbed quickly as the typhoon passed: it stood at 94 at 6am on Friday and reached 527 by Saturday morning. In Friday's breakdown, 30 injuries came from traffic or scooter accidents, 16 from falls and 10 from objects thrown by the wind, such as billboards and branches. Three of the injured were foreign nationals — two Vietnamese and one Indonesian.
Winds of 221 kph and six-metre waves
At 10am on Saturday, Champi's centre was about 170 kilometres east-northeast of Yilan County, moving north at 21 kph, with maximum sustained winds of 126 kph and gusts of up to 162 kph, the CWA said. The storm's radius shrank from 280 to 250 kilometres, and it was forecast to weaken into a tropical storm later on Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, however, the system was considerably stronger: sustained winds of 155 kph, gusts of 191 kph and gale-force winds extending 320 kilometres from the centre. Sandiao Cape, in New Taipei, recorded a gust above 221 kph late on Friday night. Waves higher than six metres were observed north and east of the island.
The CWA issued the sea warning late on Wednesday and the land warning on Thursday morning.
Evacuations, closed mountains and a country at a standstill
The CEOC counted 1,286 people evacuated from their homes nationwide: 576 in Hualien, 351 in Yilan, 278 in New Taipei, 79 in Taoyuan and one each in Nantou and Yunlin counties. In Hualien, 113 of the evacuees lived near the barrier lake formed on the Wanli River, whose level authorities were monitoring.
Of the 1,577 people who had entered restricted mountain areas and national parks, six took shelter in mountain huts and the rest came down. Twenty-seven districts and townships across eight cities and counties were classified as more vulnerable to landslides, and Yilan had yellow alerts for 44 streams at risk of debris flows.
On Friday, every municipality in Taiwan except Kinmen County suspended school and work; Taitung County closed Green Island and Lanyu. The Taiwan Stock Exchange moved the day's settlements to the next trading session. Thirteen cities and counties announced closures for Saturday as well. In Chiayi County, more than 2,000 coastal households lost power, and Taiwan Power Co. crews were carrying out emergency repairs.
One of the year's strongest typhoons
Champi was at one point classified as a super typhoon and ranks among the most intense storms of 2026 in the western Pacific. Its rapid weakening — from super typhoon to tropical storm in little more than three days — helps explain why the island recorded hundreds of injuries but only one death: the system's centre never made landfall, and the damage was concentrated in wind and rain rather than coastal flooding.
The rain began to ease on Saturday morning, although windward areas in western Taiwan, especially the mountains of Miaoli County, were still under heavy rain. Rainfall is expected to taper off gradually between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
With information from Focus Taiwan (CNA), the Taipei Times and Al Jazeera.
