Typhoon Champi leaves one dead and 94 injured in Taiwan

October 23, 202611:29 am

Typhoon Champi has left one person dead and 94 injured in Taiwan as the storm approaches the island, according to the Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC).

The fatality occurred in Liuqiu Township, Pingtung County, where a man was swept away by storm-driven waves while on a beach. Rescuers found him without vital signs at around 2 p.m. Thursday, and he was pronounced dead at a hospital at approximately 5 p.m., the CEOC reported.

As of 6 a.m. Friday, the number of injured had risen to 94, an increase of 52 from Thursday night. Thirty people were injured in motorcycle or other traffic accidents, 16 in falls and 10 by falling objects, including billboards and broken roadside trees. The injured included two Vietnamese nationals and one Indonesian national.

By 8 a.m., a total of 1,286 people had been evacuated nationwide. Hualien County accounted for 576 evacuees, followed by Yilan County with 351, New Taipei with 278 and Taoyuan with 79. One person each was evacuated in Nantou and Yunlin counties. Among those evacuated in Hualien were 113 residents living near the Wanli River barrier lake.

The CEOC also reported that all but six of the 1,577 people who had entered restricted mountain areas and national parks had left or reached safety in the mountains.

Authorities identified 27 districts and townships across eight cities and counties as particularly vulnerable to the typhoon. As of 6:30 a.m., yellow alerts had been issued for 44 streams in Yilan at risk of debris flows, as well as for areas under large-scale landslide warnings.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said Champi’s gale-force winds began affecting parts of the island Friday morning and were expected to reach the entire country by the afternoon, bringing torrential rain, strong winds and high waves.

As of 11 a.m. Friday, the typhoon was centered about 260 kilometers southeast of Yilan County and moving north-northeast at 11 to 15 kilometers per hour. It had maximum sustained winds of 155 kph, gusts reaching 191 kph and gale-force winds extending up to 320 kilometers from its center.