22 October 2026, Taipei: Super Typhoon Champi, the most powerful tropical cyclone recorded anywhere on Earth so far this year, is tracking toward Taiwan and the eastern coast of China, with heavy rain and destructive winds expected to disrupt farm regions, ports and supply chains across the area between Wednesday night and Saturday.
The storm’s sustained winds peaked at roughly 296 kilometers per hour (185 mph), matching Category 5 hurricane strength and tying Typhoon Sinlaku for the highest wind speed of any tropical cyclone worldwide in 2026, according to AccuWeather. The Weather Network reported Champi as the seventh Category 5-equivalent storm of the year globally. It trails only Pacific hurricane Polo on central pressure, but matches or exceeds it on peak winds.
Champi has already caused damage well before reaching its main targets. The storm passed within about 12 miles of Guam’s southern coast on October 18, downing trees and damaging homes. The American Red Cross said it was running 15 shelters across four islands in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with more than 1,000 residents taking shelter, and that as many as 170 wells were not operating after multiple communities lost power and water. Champi is the third typhoon to hit the CNMI in six months, following Sinlaku in April and Bavi in July, leaving some water systems still not fully repaired from the earlier storms.
Taiwan and China brace for impact
Forecasters at Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said this week that Champi is now expected to turn north sooner than earlier models suggested, which should spare the island a direct landfall. But the storm’s size means Taiwan is still forecast to take a serious hit. AccuWeather’s updated outlook, issued October 21, calls for heavy rain across Taiwan from Thursday night through Saturday, with totals up to 450 millimeters (18 inches) and localized totals as high as 900 millimeters (36 inches), concentrated in the northeast. Wind gusts could reach 190 km/h, with localized gusts up to 255 km/h along the eastern coast, and coastal flooding is likely in eastern Taiwan. Taiwan’s weather agency may issue a sea warning as early as Wednesday night, with a land warning to follow.
China’s eastern seaboard, including the area around Shanghai, is bracing for heavy rain from Friday through Sunday and strong winds from Thursday night onward, though AccuWeather’s damage-potential rating for China is lower than for Taiwan. The Hong Kong Observatory expects Champi to weaken to a severe tropical storm by the time it reaches land, with Japan’s Kyushu region also in the storm’s eventual path by early next week, according to tracking cited by regional outlets.
In the northern Philippines, Batanes and other northern provinces faced heavy rain this week as the outer bands of the typhoon passed close to the coast, even without a direct hit, prompting the national weather bureau to warn that earlier rainfall could worsen the impact of any additional flooding.
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