TAIPEI — Super Typhoon Champi, rated by several agencies as the strongest tropical cyclone of 2026, has swept past Guam, Taiwan and southern Japan in a week-long passage that left one person dead and more than 600 injured in Taiwan, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, and forced the cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights. Recovery operations were continuing in Taiwan on 25 October as the storm moved away, closing a chapter on a storm that forecasters tracked for more than a week across the western Pacific.
Illustration: A massive typhoon swirl seen from space over the western Pacific, symbolizing Super Typhoon Champi.
What Happened
Champi began its disruptive run in the Mariana Islands. The storm passed about 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of Merizo, Guam, in the early hours of 18 October local time, and was upgraded to a super typhoon about three hours later. Guam authorities reported widespread power outages and disruptions to water services, with power falling to about half the island's supply at the worst point, though no deaths were reported there and only three people were treated and discharged, according to reporting on the Guam passage.
At its peak, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center placed Champi's sustained winds at 269 kilometres per hour (167 miles per hour), while a weekly analysis on 21 October cited sustained winds of 287 kilometres per hour (178 miles per hour) — figures that, on either measure, made it the strongest storm on Earth so far in 2026. The storm then tracked west-northwest toward Taiwan, weakening somewhat but still carrying powerful gusts reported at about 227 kilometres per hour as it approached on 22 October, with forecast rainfall approaching 1,000 millimetres in some northern mountainous areas and waves exceeding six metres threatening exposed coasts.
In Taiwan, where the storm swept past the northeast coast from 22 to 24 October, the impact was severe. Taiwan's Central Emergency Operations Center reported, in its final briefing on 24 October, one death and 634 injuries, while agricultural losses had risen to NT$193.32 million by the following afternoon, according to The Watchers' summary of the briefing. Authorities shut down schools and offices across the island, cancelled nearly 1,000 flights, and evacuated more than 5,000 people from mountainous regions ahead of the storm's arrival. Hundreds of thousands of households lost power as winds tore down lines and heavy rain flooded roads.
The storm also brushed the far north of the Philippines — where it was known locally as Rosal — and Japan's southern Ryukyu Islands, prompting gale warnings for the northern and eastern seaboards of Luzon and close monitoring in Okinawa. By 25 October, recovery operations were under way in Taiwan, and the focus had shifted to the next systems: Cyclone Arnab, forecast to reach India's Andhra Pradesh coast, and Typhoon In-Fa near the Mariana Islands.
Background
Champi formed during an exceptionally active stretch of the 2026 Pacific typhoon season, and its passage coincided with a week of extreme weather around the world. In the same week, a cut-off low system named DANA Adam dropped 632 millimetres of rain in 36 hours at Pego, Spain, killing four people there, while floods in southern Veracruz, Mexico, killed 10 to 11 people and Thailand's flood toll since mid-September reached 83, with about one million people still affected on 26 October, according to the weekly analysis by Orbis Weather.
The season's context matters. The World Meteorological Organization warned on 21 October 2026 that the current El Niño event could reach unprecedented strength, with Pacific sea-surface temperatures forecast to rise as much as 3.8°C above average between November 2026 and January 2027. El Niño does not create individual typhoons, but it shifts the warm water and atmospheric patterns that shape where storms form and how strong they can become, and forecasters expect extreme events to multiply as the event intensifies toward its peak at the end of 2026.
Taiwan is no stranger to powerful typhoons, but Champi's combination of intensity, size and slow passage made it a severe test of the island's preparedness systems: early warnings, school and office closures, pre-emptive evacuations from landslide-prone mountain communities, and a central emergency operations centre that coordinated the response across agencies. The relatively low death toll, given the storm's strength, is likely to be studied by disaster planners elsewhere in the region.
Illustration: A coastal town in Taiwan battered by heavy rain and strong winds, symbolizing Typhoon Champi's passage.
Why It Matters
Champi matters first as a human story: a storm that injured more than 600 people and disrupted millions of lives, even in places with advanced warning systems and resilient infrastructure. It is a reminder that the strongest storms of a season do not need to make a direct landfall at full strength to cause widespread harm — a near miss by a super typhoon can still flood cities, cut power and shut down transport.
It matters second as a signal for the weeks ahead. With El Niño still strengthening toward its expected end-of-year peak, and with new systems already forming in the western Pacific and the Bay of Bengal, the 2026 season is not over. Disaster agencies across Asia are watching whether the pattern of intense, rain-heavy storms continues into November, when seasonal rainfall in East Africa and drier conditions in Southern Africa are also expected to strain humanitarian resources.
And it matters third as a measure of preparedness. Taiwan's evacuation of more than 5,000 mountain residents, its island-wide closures and its rapid damage accounting — including the agricultural loss figures released within a day of the storm's passage — show what early warning systems can achieve when they are trusted and acted on. The contrast with places where warnings arrive late or are ignored is one of the clearest lessons disaster researchers draw from every major storm.
What Happens Next
In the immediate term, Taiwan's recovery continues: restoring power, clearing debris and landslide-blocked roads, assessing crop damage and reopening schools and transport. In Guam, utilities are working to restore full power and water services after the island's battered grid. Longer term, meteorologists will conduct post-storm analyses of Champi's intensity and track — the kind of review that refines future forecasts and, over time, saves lives.
For the wider region, attention now turns to the next systems in the pipeline and to the seasonal outlooks that will shape preparedness through the end of the year. National weather services and civil protection agencies issue the official warnings for each new storm, and residents in affected areas are urged to follow evacuation orders immediately. Champi has passed; the season that produced it has not.
Illustration: Recovery workers clearing fallen trees and debris after a typhoon, symbolizing post-storm recovery.
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FAQ
What was Super Typhoon Champi?
A super typhoon in the western Pacific in October 2026, rated by several agencies as the strongest tropical cyclone of the year, with peak sustained winds reported at 269 to 287 kilometres per hour.
Which areas did it affect?
Guam on 17–18 October, then Taiwan from 22 to 24 October, with effects also felt in the far north of the Philippines (where it was called Rosal) and Japan's southern Ryukyu Islands.
How many people were killed or injured?
In Taiwan, one death and 634 injuries were reported in the Central Emergency Operations Center's final briefing on 24 October. No deaths were reported in Guam.
How much damage did it cause?
Agricultural losses in Taiwan had reached NT$193.32 million by 25 October, and hundreds of thousands of households lost power. Full damage assessments were still under way as recovery continued.
Is the typhoon season over?
No. New systems were already forecast in the days after Champi, and the strengthening El Niño event is expected to peak toward the end of 2026, keeping extreme-weather risks elevated.
Sources
- Orbis Weather, "Weekly Global Weather Watch: Weekly Analysis, October 26, 2026," 26 October 2026.
- The Watchers, "2026 Pacific typhoon season" coverage, 25 October 2026 (Taiwan Central Emergency Operations Center briefing, 24 October 2026).
- Orbis Weather, "Western Pacific Tropical Weather Update – October 22, 2026," 22 October 2026, citing Reuters and PAGASA.
- Orbis Weather, "Weekly Earth's Extreme Weather Report — Wednesday, October 21, 2026," 21 October 2026.
- World Meteorological Organization, Global Seasonal Climate Update, 21 October 2026.
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