One person has died and 616 were injured in Taiwan as Typhoon Champi made landfall, the Central Emergency Operations Center said. The figures were as of 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, when the storm was already moving away from the island.
The victim was a man who was swept away by strong waves onto a beach in Liuqiu Township, Pingtung County. Most of the injuries reported were minor abrasions and bruises. There were no reports of missing people.
Thousands of damage reports
Authorities have received 9,027 damage reports. Fallen trees caused 3,287 of them, with Taipei recording the most at 1,282. Taichung reported another 646 cases. Another 3,033 were related to basic infrastructure, and 1,014 were related to billboards and road signs.
More than 340,000 households were left without power during the storm. About 22,000 were still without power Saturday evening, with power expected to be restored by 11 p.m.
A total of 4,960 people were evacuated from areas in New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung, Tainan and several counties including Yilan, Hualien, Nantou, Yunlin, Pingtung and Taitung due to landslides.
Warnings lifted
The typhoon began affecting Taiwan's weather on Thursday. It weakened to a tropical storm on Saturday afternoon, and the landfall warning was lifted at 2:30 p.m. Champi later headed north-northeast towards southern Japan.
Yilan County recorded the heaviest rainfall, with 650 millimeters (25.7 inches) from Thursday to 4 p.m. Saturday. Taoyuan and Hsinchu received more than 500 millimeters (19.7 inches) of rain, while Taipei received 469.5 millimeters (18.5 inches).
“The rain will gradually ease and be confined to areas north of Taoyuan and the mountainous parts of Taipei and New Taipei,” said Lin Ping-yu, a meteorologist with the Central Meteorological Administration. He said the rains were expected to stop completely by early Sunday.
The storm also disrupted air travel. Taoyuan International Airport had canceled 563 flights on Friday and another 261 by 10:15 a.m. Saturday. Flights were expected to gradually resume, but schedules remained dependent on weather conditions.
Sources: focustaiwan.tw, apnews.com, taipeitimes.com