typhoon champi – october 2026
Champi began as a tropical depression near Micronesia. JMA reported the depression forming on October 11, JTWC designated it 29W on October 14, and JMA named it Champi a day later. The storm moved west towards the Mariana Islands, and Rota was expected to feel lesser but still damaging winds on the outer edge of the storm. Champi struck Guam as a Category 4 super typhoon with 240 km/h winds and strengthened to Category 5, at 265 km/h, about six hours later. Its centre passed roughly 16 km south of Guam’s southern tip early on October 18, and the storm tore off roofs and brought down trees across the island. Over the Philippine Sea, Champi, known locally as Rosal, reached 296 km/h sustained winds on October 20, the highest wind speed of any tropical cyclone in 2026. Signal No. 2 remained in force over Batanes in the Philippines. Increasing wind shear had weakened it to a Category 2 equivalent by October 23, as it approached Taiwan. Taiwan closed its stock market, schools and offices on October 23, and one person has been killed and 171 injured as the storm lashes the island. Heavy rain and strong winds are expected across parts of Taiwan and eastern China through the weekend.
PHILIPPINES, GUAM, TAIWAN, SOUTH KOREA, JAPAN, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, CHINA, HONG KONG
TYPHOON
SEVERE
Heritage Sites within the AOI
This map shows Typhoon Champi’s track from JTWC/GDACS advisories and the cultural heritage sites across the wider region, from Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to the Philippines, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan. The heritage sites were compiled from UNESCO World Heritage listings, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata. Each site is coloured by its shortest distance to the track, measured in kilometres on the WGS 84 ellipsoid.
Heritage Sites
UNESCO Heritage SItes
OpenStreetMap and WikiData Heritage Sites
Heritage Sites Potentially Exposed
This map highlights the heritage sites nearest to Champi’s track, grouped by distance: 0–50 km, 50–100 km, 100–200 km, 200–500 km, 500–1,000 km and over 1,000 km. Distance is a first screening of potential exposure. It does not confirm wind, rain, flood or storm-surge impact, or damage at any site.
Map Legend
|
Distance to cyclone track |
UNESCO Sites Exposed |
OSM + WikiData Heritage Sites Exposed |
|---|---|---|
|
0-50km |
19 |
3274 |
|
50-100km |
19 |
2627 |
|
100-200km |
127 |
10733 |
|
200-500km |
129 |
49299 |
|
500-1000km |
157 |
57499 |
|
>1000km |
532 |
56859 |
Imagery Footprint Supporting Post-typhoon
Heritage Monitoring
This map focuses on priority areas along Champi’s track. It shows the footprints of high-resolution satellite imagery (Maxar, Planet, Sentinel) available over each, filtered to a ground sampling distance of 0.5 m or finer so the images are usable for damage assessment. Hovering over a footprint shows its provider, price, resolution, cloud cover and acquisition date. Cloud cover is likely to limit optical imagery in the first days after the storm. Sentinel-1 radar can see through cloud and gives earlier coverage for detecting floods and large-scale change.