A powerful storm was heading toward China on Saturday, after hitting Taiwan and the southernmost islands of Japan, leaving thousands of households without power and causing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Typhoon Champi was downgraded to a tropical storm as its wind speeds dropped to 102 kilometers per hour, according to the latest update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
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More than 5,000 people were evacuated from their homes ahead of the storm in Taiwan, which uprooted trees, knocked down power lines, and caused flooding.
One person has died and more than 600 have been injured since Thursday, when the government began issuing typhoon warnings.
Power has been restored to more than 90% of the over 340,000 households affected, after the storm battered large areas of Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rainfall.
Most stores in northern and central Taiwan remained closed for a second day, as the typhoon moved away from the northeastern part of the island and headed north toward China.
DE NO CREER |
Gigantescas olas azotan las costas de Taiwán debido al avance del tifón Champi. Las autoridades ya reportaron un fallecido y miles de evacuados a raíz del fenómeno.
pic.twitter.com/vHrRqGgOJD — Delpy Live (@delpylive) October 23, 2026
Chaba is the latest storm in a particularly intense storm season in the Pacific Ocean, which is being fueled by the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.
The storm had temporarily been upgraded to a super typhoon in recent days, as it crossed the ocean, with reported maximum sustained wind speeds approaching 300 kilometers per hour.
Its intensity decreased overnight as it moved in a circular pattern off the coast of Taiwan’s northeastern Yilan County, where, according to the meteorological service, at least 65 centimeters of rain have been recorded since Thursday.
Chinese authorities have warned of “strong winds and heavy rainfall” as Chaba approaches the country’s eastern coast, state television station CCTV reported.
Some train services have been suspended, while tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in Shanghai.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled in the wider region, including in Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, where the government announced that two people were injured by the typhoon.
