[Anchor]

Typhoon Champi, which previously caused heavy damage in Taiwan, has battered Okinawa, Japan, and is now moving north toward Kyushu. Although its strength has weakened somewhat, it is still too early to let down our guard.

Reporting from Tokyo, this is correspondent Mun Junmo.

[Reporter]

Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, was hit hard by Typhoon Champi.

Strong winds left utility poles scattered across roads, and thick street trees snapped helplessly.

On Miyako Island, a woman in her 70s suffered a broken leg after being knocked over by strong winds, while a 7-year-old child on Yonaguni Island injured their head from shattered window glass.

Power was cut to 13,000 households across the prefecture, and water outages occurred in some areas, prompting Okinawa Prefecture to request disaster relief from the Self-Defense Forces.

Earlier in Taiwan, damage piled up as one person was killed after being swept away by high waves and over 500 people were injured.

[Taipei Resident: I saw the news that average wind speeds in Taipei could reach 70 to 80 kilometers per hour, and it was really frightening.]

Even if the typhoon dissipates, it is too early to relax.

This is because the humid air brought by the typhoon is stimulating a front stretching across the Japanese archipelago, raising expectations for heavy rain in various places through the day after tomorrow (October 27).

24-hour rainfall totals until tomorrow afternoon are expected to reach up to 200 mm in northern Kyushu and Shikoku, and 150 mm in southern Kyushu, with heavy rain also forecasted for the Kanto region, including Tokyo.

On Tsushima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture, 24-hour precipitation exceeded 200 mm by this morning, breaking the record for the highest October observation.

The Japan Meteorological Agency urged caution, warning that even after the typhoon dissipates, secondary damage such as landslides and flooding could continue.

(Video by Moon Hyun-jin | Video Editing by Kim Jin-won | Design by Kang Yoon-jung)