Typhoon Champi Hammers Taiwan: One Dead, 500 Injured, 56,000 Homes Dark

TAIPEI — Emergency crews scrambled across Taiwan on Saturday to restore power to tens of thousands of households after Typhoon Champi battered the island, killing one person and injuring more than 500 since warnings began on Thursday.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm, which toppled trees, brought down power lines and triggered brief flooding. Around 56,000 households were still without power as the storm moved away from the island's northeast, with 65 centimetres of rain recorded in Yilan county since Thursday and nearly 24 centimetres in Miaoli on Saturday. Most shops across northern and central Taiwan stayed closed for a second day. Central Weather Administration forecaster Wuu Woan-hwa said the period of most severe impact had passed but warned that winds and waves around Taiwan remained strong. The storm comes days after a deadly earthquake in Tibet claimed at least 16 lives, capping a punishing week of natural disasters across Asia.

Champi briefly reached super-typhoon strength over the Pacific in recent days, with reported peak sustained winds of nearly 300 kilometres per hour, before weakening as it looped off Yilan. The storm is now heading north towards China and Japan. Follow live updates as crews work to restore power and assess the damage.