Typhoon Champi Kills One and Injures More Than 500 in Taiwan as Hurricane Vance Nears Mexico
Champi clipped northern Taiwan on Friday without making landfall, bringing heavy rain, strong gusts and large waves, while Hurricane Vance moved slowly toward Mexico's southern coast as a Category 2 storm.
Typhoon Champi killed one person and injured more than 500 others, including 21 foreign nationals, when it clipped northern Taiwan on Friday, according to local police cited by Fox Weather. The storm did not make landfall but brought heavy rain, strong wind gusts and large waves to the island.
Champi had tied Super Typhoon Sinlaku earlier in the week as the strongest storm to form anywhere in 2026, with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts of 225 mph, Fox Weather reported. Waves near the center of the storm reached 68 feet. The typhoon prompted sea and land warnings in Taiwan and hundreds of flight cancellations before it weakened.
Champi has weakened since then and is forecast to keep weakening as it moves toward Japan this weekend and early next week.
Vance slows on approach to Mexico
Hurricane Vance, the 13th hurricane of the Pacific season, became a hurricane early Friday and briefly reached Category 3 late Friday before weakening to a Category 2 storm, according to Fox Weather. It is the 11th major hurricane in the Eastern and Central Pacific this season and the first storm in the basin to carry a name starting with V since 2018.
Vance is moving slowly toward the southern coast of Mexico, and its slow speed has made its track and strength beyond the weekend harder to pin down. The National Hurricane Center said the storm could briefly strengthen again but is starting to run into cooler water and drier air that could hold it back.
Reporting based on coverage by Fox Weather.
