YILAN, Taiwan/TAIPEI: Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday, killing one person and injuring more than 500, downing trees and cutting power, as it continued to weaken and head north towards the Chinese coast, although it was not expected to make landfall there.
At one point a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was weakening but still packing gusts of around 126kph near its centre, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration.
The storm was about 150km east of Taiwan, having skirted the island's northeastern coast in Yilan County early on Saturday, the CWA said.
The centre of the storm turned south around midnight, hugging the Yilan coastline before making a rare loop offshore and moving northward away from the island. It triggered gusts of about 227kph in some coastal areas, knocking down power lines and sending roof tiles flying.
