Star Metro - Tropical Storm Champi nears China after battering Taiwan, Japan

Typhoon Champi was downgraded to a tropical storm as its wind speed dropped to 102 kilometres (63 miles) per hour, according to the latest update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Taiwanese authorities evacuated more than 5,000 people from their homes ahead of the storm, which toppled trees, brought down power lines and triggered brief flooding.

One person was killed and more than 600 injured since Thursday, when the government began issuing warnings about the typhoon.

Power has been restored to more than 90 percent of over 340,000 affected households, after the storm unleashed fierce winds and heavy rain over swathes of Taiwan.

Most shops across northern and central Taiwan were closed for a second day, as the typhoon moved away from the island's northeast and headed north towards China.

"Although the typhoon is gradually departing, we would like to remind the public that coastal areas will still experience swells and strong wind gusts," the Central Weather Administration's Wuu Woan-hwa said at a briefing.

Champi is the latest in a busy Pacific storm season turbocharged by the El Nino weather phenomenon that has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.

The storm was briefly a super typhoon as it crossed the ocean in recent days, with reported maximum sustained wind speeds of nearly 300 kph.

Its intensity weakened overnight as it made a loop off Taiwan's northeastern county of Yilan, where it has dumped at least 65 cm (26 inches) of rain since Thursday, the forecaster said.

Martha Wang said she was afraid of being "blown away" by the wind as she rode her scooter across a bridge in New Taipei City on Saturday morning.

"I was really scared because I was on the bridge. My scooter was shaking," the 55-year-old secretary told AFP.

William Yu, however, was unfazed by the storm, saying it "wasn't any stronger than other typhoons."

"I went to the convenience store to eat yesterday (evening) and everything was fine," the 55-year-old librarian said.

- Heading for China -

Authorities in China warned of "strong winds and heavy rain" as Champi approaches the country's east coast, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Some train services have been suspended and tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in Shanghai.

"Some areas of Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and other regions are expected to experience heavy to torrential rainfall," it said.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in the region, including in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa where the government said two people were injured in the typhoon.

Tourists on Ishigaki island waited for flights to resume so they could return home.

"We hope it's our last day," Eva Malek, 49, from Poland told AFP.

"It's not easy to have information. We were not aware of the situation and didn't expect something like this to happen. When the typhoon arrived we didn't think it would be that strong."

The United Nations said Wednesday that the El Nino system gripping the planet is heading off the charts and that countries should take urgent action to prepare for the worst.

El Nino is expected to peak in December, but the human impact is set to last into 2027 and beyond.

The warming phase of a natural climate cycle, El Nino temporarily raises sea temperatures in the tropical Pacific, triggering changes in weather that can increase the risk of drought and flooding and exacerbate human-caused global warming.

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A.Desjardins--SMC