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Rainfall is expected to peak on Saturday morning and continue to batter Taiwan until Saturday evening, the Central Weather Administration said.<\/p>\n
Taiwanese authorities have urged people to stay away from coasts and mountains.<\/p>\n
Work and classes were suspended in nearly all of Taiwan’s 22 counties and cities on Friday – what’s colloquially known as a “typhoon holiday” – as Champi approached the island.<\/p>\n
Taiwan’s $5tn (\u00a33.7tn) stock exchange was also closed on Friday because of the severe weather.<\/p>\n
Only Kinmen county, an archipelago located to the west of Taiwan’s main island, continued work and classes as usual.<\/p>\n
In Japan, power cuts were reported in nearly 8,400 households in the southern Okinawa prefecture, according to the local power company.<\/p>\n
More than 160 flights have been cancelled across four Japanese airlines.<\/p>\n
Champi has also stirred up heavy rains and winds in Batanes, a Philippine island chain below southern Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Photos posted on the local government’s Facebook page showed waves crashing into seaside villages and roads closed to traffic. There were no immediate reports of casualties.<\/p>\n
Typhoon Champi became the strongest storm of the year earlier this week, when it attained a maximum sustained wind speed of 185mph (298km\/h) as it moved over the Philippine Sea – the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. <\/p>\n
While initially categorised as a “super typhoon”, Champi weakened on Wednesday as it continued barrelling through the sea.<\/p>\n
This is shaping up to be one of the most active typhoon seasons the region has seen in years. Champi is Japan’s 30th typhoon of the year – making this the first time since 2013 that the country has seen so many storms. <\/p>\n
The recent frequency of storms is due to an unusually strong El Ni\u00f1o – a naturally occurring phenomenon that hits the Pacific Ocean every few years and can trigger extreme weather events, from droughts to typhoons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n