Typhoon Champi Shuts Taiwan: Is The Worst Still to Come?

Once a super typhoon and still packing 191kph gusts, Champi grounded 979 flights, killed one person, injured 163 and briefly cut power to 77,000 homes — with Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture next in its path.

Yilan / Keelung, Taiwan, October 23, 2026 — Almost all of Taiwan shut down on Friday as Typhoon Champi approached, already lashing the island with strong winds and torrential rain and still capable of making direct landfall.

How strong, and where

At one point a super typhoon and among the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was still carrying gusts of about 191kph (119mph) near its centre on Friday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA). The storm sat roughly 170km (106 miles) east of the island.

Forecasters expected it to pass just off northeastern Taiwan late Friday, turn north toward the Chinese coast and eventually move into southern Japan. But CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng cautioned that direct landfall “could not be ruled out” if the storm “stalls, loops, or wobbles from side to side” on approach.

“The storm’s wind radius is quite large, among the bigger ones in recent years,” Liu said. “If the storm slows down, the strong winds will affect Taiwan for longer.” Forecasters put the radius at around 320km (200 miles) — large enough to cover most of Taiwan — with experts warning the impact could last nearly two days.

The human cost

Authorities said one person was killed and 163 injured, a figure revised down from 171, as wind and driving rain swept the island. 2,639 people were evacuated from mountainous areas. State utility Taipower said more than 77,000 homes lost power, though electricity had already been restored to most.

Coastal towns received mobile alerts warning of gusts above 150kph (93mph) and urging residents to shelter immediately, with nearly a metre (3ft) of rain forecast for northern mountain areas, including around Taipei.

On the ground in Yilan and Keelung

In Yilan county, where the typhoon was forecast to pass close by, authorities distributed sandbags and staged amphibious vehicles and inflatable rescue boats. Lee Ming-chen, head of the port town of Suao — badly flooded in previous typhoons — said: “When necessary, the military will come in to help people, including using amphibious vehicles for evacuations or disaster relief.”

In the northern port city of Keelung, boat owners hurried to secure vessels. “It’s not that severe; I’m just worried that there will be flooding. Keelung has seen a lot of flooding this year,” said construction worker Liu Yu-en, 18.

Shutdown and disruption

Taiwan’s transport ministry said all 262 domestic flights were cancelled along with 717 international and cross-strait services, with cancellations climbing through the morning as airports including Taoyuan, Songshan, Kaohsiung and Taichung grounded departures. The north–south high-speed rail continued operating as usual. In Taipei, squally showers accompanied reduced but running public transport, including the subway.

Financial markets closed. Only the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, adjacent to the Chinese coast, kept schools and offices open as normal.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a critical node in global semiconductor supply, said operations remained normal with no significant impact — a line markets will watch closely, given the concentration of advanced chip fabrication in the region.

What comes next

The typhoon is forecast to pass first over Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost inhabited island in Okinawa Prefecture. Japanese authorities have described Champi as the 30th named storm of the year for Japan, with the Japan Meteorological Agency warning of wind speeds up to 216kph in its earlier advisory. Hong Kong and mainland Chinese carriers reported dozens of cancellations on Taiwan routes, with disruption expected to spread toward eastern Chinese airports.

Autumn typhoons are less common than summer ones but not rare, and forecasters have pointed to record-warm seas in the region as a factor in storm intensity this year. Taiwan’s preparation culture — mass alerts, staged amphibious rescue assets, pre-emptive market closure — is credited with keeping casualties low even from large-radius storms.

The number to watch is the track, not the wind. A weakening storm that slows or loops over the island’s north would extend the rain window over already-saturated terrain around Taipei, Yilan and Keelung — the same terrain that flooded repeatedly this year.