Typhoon Champi Tracks Towards Taiwan’s Northeast Coast, Triggering Flight Cancellations and Emergency Standby
Typhoon Champi approaches Taiwan’s northeast coast with 195km/h winds. Over 150 flights cancelled, work suspended, 23,000 military personnel mobilized for rescue ops.
Typhoon Champi was bearing down on Taiwan on Thursday, 22 October, prompting authorities to cancel more than 150 domestic and international flights, suspend work and classes across the island on Friday, and mobilise over 23,000 military personnel for potential rescue operations. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) said the storm is expected to pass along the island’s northeast coast on Friday and Saturday before continuing towards China and Japan.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center recorded Champi’s maximum sustained wind speeds at nearly 195km per hour. The storm had previously been classified as a super typhoon, with reported maximum speeds of nearly 300kph, but has since weakened, according to the centre.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te urged residents to take precautions in a Facebook post. “Everyone is urged to remain vigilant and be prepared for the strong winds and heavy rains brought by the typhoon,” he said.
Most significant impact Friday through Saturday morning
CWA forecaster Jason Cheng told AFP that the storm’s most severe effects were expected to begin on Friday and carry through the first half of Saturday. Cheng noted that Champi has a storm radius of 320km and said that, compared with the previous Typhoon Bavi, Champi’s storm area is not as wide.
The CWA warned that the typhoon could deposit up to 900mm of rain over mountainous parts of northern and northeastern Taiwan between Thursday and Saturday, with waves exceeding six metres forecast along coastal areas. Work and classes on Friday were cancelled across many cities and counties on the island.
China and Japan on alert
Millions of people in eastern China were also bracing for the storm’s effects in the days following its passage over Taiwan. China’s Ministry of Water Resources initiated a level-four emergency response on Thursday — the lowest tier in the country’s emergency hierarchy — covering Shanghai and the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian.
The ministry warned that Champi could bring “a period of significant rainfall” from Friday to Sunday, with “heavy to torrential downpours” likely in some areas, including most of Shanghai and eastern Zhejiang, according to the ministry’s statement.
In Japan, the country’s two major airlines cancelled more than 110 flights between Thursday and Saturday in anticipation of the storm.
El Niño backdrop
Champi arrives amid what authorities have described as a particularly active Pacific storm season. The United Nations said on Wednesday that the El Niño system currently affecting the planet is heading off the charts and called on countries to take urgent action to prepare for the worst.
El Niño is a natural warming phase in the tropical Pacific that temporarily raises sea temperatures and triggers weather changes capable of increasing the risk of drought and flooding, while also exacerbating human-caused global warming. The UN said the phenomenon is expected to peak in December, with its human impact projected to last into 2027 and beyond.
