Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday killing one person, injuring more than 500, and uprooting trees and severing power as it weakened and headed north toward the Chinese coast. Earlier classified as a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was still packing gusts of about 126km per hour (78 miles per hour) near its centre, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA). The storm was about 150km (93 miles) east of Taiwan, the CWA said, having glanced off the island’s northeast coast in the early hours of Saturday.
Champi’s forecast track shows it turning north toward the Chinese coast before eventually moving into southern Japan . View image in fullscreen Waves generated by Typhoon Champi crash against a seawall in Keelung. Photograph: Ann Wang/Reuters Taiwan’s fire department said one man had been killed, swept by waves from the island of Liuqiu. Another 527 people were injured during heavy wind and torrential rain. Taipower said more than 167,000 homes had lost electricity, but most had now been reconnected.
Large parts of northern and central Taiwan, including Taipei, declared a second day of office and school closures on Saturday, and some flights were still being cancelled. Taiwan is generally well prepared for typhoons, which keeps casualties low. Although more common in summer, the storms can strike also in autumn. Explore more on these topics Taiwan Asia Pacific China Japan news Share Reuse this content
The Guardian reports that Typhoon Champi killed one person and injured more than 500 in Taiwan, and it sources its figures and track to the fire department, Taipower and the Central Weather Administration. It calls Champi a former super typhoon and one of the strongest Pacific storms of the year, but it never says that warming makes intense tropical cyclones like this more frequent or more severe. Its only context is preparedness and season, which leaves the reader with a routine storm story.
Leaves out the climate link
Serious
“Although more common in summer, the storms can strike also in autumn.”
Why this matters
The Guardian ends its report with this line about the timing of typhoons. It is the only context the article gives on why a storm like this happened, and it is about the season alone.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away believing Champi was an ordinary seasonal storm, with nothing about a warming climate that makes such storms stronger.
The context
The article itself calls Champi a former super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year. It killed one person and injured 527. The documented record shows that warming has made intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe. The article never mentions climate or warming anywhere.
How we know
On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
Elsewhere in the article“one of the strongest storms”
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “climate” and “warming”.