Typhoon Champi leaves people dead and thousands without power in Taiwan

Emergency teams mobilized this Saturday (24) to restore electricity supply to tens of thousands of homes in Taiwan, after the winds of Typhoon Champi affected the island, as the storm advanced towards China and Japan.

Authorities evacuated more than 5,000 people from their homes before the storm arrived, which toppled trees and power poles and caused flooding. One person has died and more than 500 have been injured since Thursday, when the government began issuing warnings about the approaching typhoon.

Around 56,000 homes are still without electricity as Champi continues to hit the island. In the western county of Miaoli, almost 24 centimeters (9.4 inches) of rain were recorded this Saturday.

Most businesses in northern and central Taiwan remained closed for the second day in a row as the typhoon gradually moves away from the island's northeast and heads north toward China and Japan.

"Although the period of the typhoon's most severe impact has passed, we would like to remind everyone that the winds and waves in the waters around Taiwan remain strong as the typhoon advances northward," said Wuu Woan-hwa of the Central Meteorological Administration during a press conference.

Champi is the most recent storm in an intense cyclone season in the Pacific, boosted by the El Niño climate phenomenon, which has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.

The storm reached super typhoon status as it crossed the ocean in recent days, with maximum sustained winds of nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles) per hour.

This Saturday, winds reached 120 km/h, according to the most recent update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The storm's intensity eased overnight after it circled off Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan, where it has dumped 65 centimeters of rain since Thursday, the weather service said.

The United Nations said on Wednesday that the El Niño system affecting the planet is reaching unprecedented levels and that countries must take urgent action to prepare for the worst.

El Niño is expected to reach its peak in December, but its effects on the population are expected to last until 2027 and beyond.

The warming phase of a natural climate cycle, El Niño temporarily raises sea temperatures in the tropical Pacific, causing meteorological changes that can increase the risk of droughts and floods and worsen global warming caused by human activity.