TAIPEI — Almost all of Taiwan shut down Friday as the island braces for the arrival of Typhoon Champi, which is moving close to the island’s east coast with torrential rains and gusts of up to 191 kph (119mph). Authorities in Taiwan have told citizens to stay away from the coasts and mountains and are evacuating residents on the northeast coast living near a landslip dam that could burst in the storm.
Hundreds of flights in Taiwan and neighbouring Japan have been cancelled affecting thousands of passengers, and at least one person has died in Taiwan after being washed away by waves, authorities said. Weather scientists are unsure whether Champi will strike Taiwan but the dangers from the storm, one of the most powerful on the planet this year, persist.
Up to 90cm (35 in) could fall between Thursday and Saturday, with the northeast coast expected to be hit hardest, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau warned. Champi was a super typhoon an, at one point,d one of the strongest storms this year in the Pacifit, with Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) saying it was still packing gusts of roughly 191 kph (119 mph) near its center.
The storm was 320 kilometres (198 miles) east of Taiwan’s southernmost tip, the CWA reported. The storm’s anticipated trajectory has it passing just off northeastern Taiwan, turning north toward the Chinese coast and then moving toward southern Japan. Taiwan reported one death and 94 injuries. The authorities stated about 1,300 people were evacuated from mountainous locations.
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