Howling winds and lashing rains battered Guam and the Northern Marianas late Sunday hours before the projected arrival of a “super typhoon” with equivalent force to a category-5 hurricane over the US Pacific territories.
Super Typhoon Bavi was forecast to roar westwards over the area early Monday with maximum sustained winds of up to 280 kilometers per hour and gusts of 333 km/h, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The National Weather Service (NWS) called the typhoon “very dangerous," warning of possible “catastrophic wind damage” near the eye as well as storm surges and “hazardous” surf.
Already on Sunday afternoon, there were few cars on the roads in Guam or the Northern Marianas—between them home to some 210,000 people—with police driving around warning people to take care.
Pinky Cubacub, 55, said as she boarded up the windows of her eatery that she had lined up early on Saturday to buy $500 worth of plywood at a lumber store.
“I cannot afford to lose so many days. It hurts,” she told AFP.
Call center employee Arabella Paulino, 48, said: “My girls were saying to me it’s scary. But it will be okay.”
“My house is concrete, so the worst that can happen is a window could blow in,” she told AFP.
Japanese tourist Miku Sakurai, 25, was supposed to fly back to Tokyo with her friends, but their flight was cancelled.
“We will stay in the hotel when the storm comes. I am scared,” the office worker told AFP.
Around a dozen surfers, however, were making the most of the windy conditions at one beach in Guam’s Talofofo Bay.
“There’s quite a lot of debris in the water, but it’s a lot of fun,” said one of them.
Praying
The Northern Marianas in the western Pacific has a population of around 40,000, and nearby Guam—a separate US territory, although both are part of the Marianas archipelago—about 170,000.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which hit the region in mid-April, knocked out power for tens of thousands of inhabitants, uprooted trees, overturned cars, and ripped metal roofs off buildings.
In 2023 another massive typhoon, Mawar, the biggest in decades, caused devastation, too.
Bavi was forecast to pass nearest the small island of Rota, the southernmost part of the Northern Marianas, at around 8am on Monday (2200 GMT Sunday), the NWS said.
If Bavi tracks near or over Rota, home to around 1,500 people, most of the area “will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. Many non-concrete, non-reinforced homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse,” it said.
“Nearly all trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months.”
“By working together and taking the necessary precautions, we can help protect our families, neighbors, and community. We pray for the safety of our people,” Rota mayor Aubry Hocog said.
El Nino
The world’s oceans experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead, the European Union’s Copernicus Marine Service said on Wednesday.
Warmer oceans help tropical storms to intensify and add more moisture, which can fall as heavy rain.
The World Meteorological Organization warned on Friday that El Nino, which typically occurs every two to seven years and lasts nine to 12 months, has already begun in the tropical Pacific and is likely to be strong.
The natural climate phenomenon warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure, and rainfall patterns.
