Hundreds of flights were canceled and financial markets closed across Taiwan on Friday, October 23, as Typhoon Champi closed in on the island, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds. Work and classes were suspended in nearly all of Taiwan’s 22 counties and cities, creating a widespread closure colloquially known as a typhoon holiday. Taiwan’s $5 trillion stock exchange was also closed on Friday due to the severe weather, according to reporting from BBC.
The transport ministry reported that all 262 domestic flights were canceled. International cancellations reached either 669 or 717 flights across multiple carriers and government advisories. While the north-south high-speed rail service operated as usual, coastal and mountainous regions faced severe disruptions.
Authorities reported one death and 171 injuries as the storm lashed the island.
The fatality occurred on Thursday. A person was swept away by waves in Liuqiu, a small island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan’s main island, according to the fire department and the Central Emergency Operations Center.
Close to 1,300 people were evacuated from vulnerable, mountainous areas. In the northeastern county of Yilan, authorities distributed sandbags and placed amphibious vehicles and inflatable rescue boats on standby.
Typhoon Champi Tracks Toward Japan
Earlier in the week, Typhoon Champi attained maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) over the Philippine Sea. This made it the strongest storm of the year and tied it with April’s Super Typhoon Sinlaku for the strongest 1-minute sustained winds of 2026, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.
Although it weakened from its super typhoon status, the storm still packed gusts of around 191 kph near its center. The Central Weather Administration tracked the system about 320 km east of Taiwan’s southern tip.
Forecasters noted that Champi’s massive radius of around 320 km was large enough to cover most of Taiwan.
Rainfall is expected to peak on Saturday morning and continue to batter the island until Saturday evening. Northern mountain areas near Taipei are forecast to receive nearly 3 feet of rain.
Only Kinmen county, an archipelago situated to the west of Taiwan’s main island near the Chinese coast, continued work and classes as normal.
Beyond Taiwan, the typhoon’s impacts extended regionally. In Japan, power cuts affected nearly 8,400 households in the southern Okinawa prefecture, and more than 160 flights were canceled across four Japanese airlines, according to the local power company.
#IGR: Hundreds of flights have been cancelled across East Asia as Typhoon Champi approaches Taiwan, disrupting air travel across the region.Authorities are monitoring the storm as it brings strong winds and heavy rainfall, with further disruptions expected as the typhoon moves… pic.twitter.com/Tvm1iutfLB
Champi also stirred up heavy rains in Batanes, a Philippine island chain south of Taiwan. Champi brought winds to Batanes, where local government updates showed waves crashing into seaside villages and roads closed to traffic without immediate casualty reports.
Meteorologists noted that Champi is Japan’s 30th typhoon of the year. This marks the first time since 2013 that the country has recorded such a high volume of storms, driven by an unusually strong El Niño phenomenon.
The storm’s forecast track shows it passing just off northeastern Taiwan, moving over Japan’s westernmost inhabited island of Yonaguni in Okinawa Prefecture, turning north toward the Chinese coast, and eventually moving into southern Japan.
Taiwan has suspended work and classes as Typhoon Champi, the strongest Pacific storm of the year, approaches. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated, hundreds of flights cancelled and forecasters warn that some mountainous areas near Taipei could receive up to one meter of… pic.twitter.com/3tcWyeJVtD