Super Typhoon Champi Triggers Mass Flight Cancellations as Taiwan Braces for Impact

POLICY WIRE — Taipei, Taiwan — Super Typhoon Champi, the most intense storm of the year, is barreling toward Taiwan, prompting authorities to cancel nearly 125 flights scheduled for Thursday. While the island’s rail network remains operational, officials have suspended ferry services and shuttered various tourist sites to bolster disaster readiness.

According to the US National Weather Service, the storm is currently equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of approximately 185mph. Although the system weakened slightly on Thursday, it remains an extremely powerful force with typhoon-strength winds extending 100 miles from its center.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration has issued both sea and land warnings as the storm approaches. Forecaster Chang Cheng-Chuan anticipates these alerts will remain in effect until Saturday afternoon, at which point the typhoon is projected to shift toward Japan’s Kyushu island.

President Lai Ching-te has urged the public to prepare immediately, specifically advising citizens to avoid coastal and mountainous regions. While no evacuations have been ordered in Taiwan, the government has deployed water pumps to flood-prone zones and initiated inspections of critical drainage and flood-control infrastructure.

The storm, known as Super Typhoon Rosal in the Philippines, is the 18th tropical cyclone to impact the nation this year. The Philippine weather agency, PAGASA, has warned of dangerous waves reaching up to 12 meters along the coasts of Batanes and 9 meters near the Babuyan Islands.

Looking ahead, China’s National Meteorological Centre has issued a blue typhoon warning, the lowest in its four-tier system. Forecasters expect the storm to make landfall on the eastern coast of Taiwan on Saturday before moving toward the Chinese province of Fujian, prompting emergency evacuation planning in Zhejiang province.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)