Hundreds of flights cancelled as Typhoon Champi shuts Taiwan

Hundreds of flights in the East Asia region were cancelled on Friday as powerful Typhoon Champi roared close to Taiwan's north-east coast.Schools and offices in Taiwan were shut as Champi neared the island. While it is uncertain if it will make landfall, the storm was forecast to bring 90cm (35in) of rain and strong winds to the north-east until Saturday.One person died after being swept away by waves, authorities said. The storm also injured 171 people and forced 1,000 others to evacuate.Champi is the latest in a string of intense typhoons as a Super El Niño heats up the Pacific Ocean and fuels storms. At its peak earlier this week, it was the planet's strongest storm of the year so far.On Friday afternoon, Champi was packing wind gusts of 191km/h (119mph) .After passing Taiwan's north-eastern tip and the Okinawa islands in southern Japan, Champi is expected to hover over the waters off China's eastern coast, before curving farther to the north-east to Japan's main island.Weather agencies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan forecast that the eye of the storm is expected to pass without making landfall in Taiwan,However, a forecaster in Taiwan's Central Weather Administration told Reuters that they could not rule this out completely - especially if the storm "stalls, loops or wobbles from side to side" as it approaches.