Residents are urged to stay home with the powerful storm expected to make landfall on Wednesday.
Guam’s governor has urged residents to stay home, warning the island could take a direct hit from Typhoon Mawar, which is gaining strength heading into the Pacific region.
Governor Lou Leon Guerrero on Tuesday urged the nearly 171,000 people living in United States territory to remain calm and prepare for the cyclone.
“Mawar is a real threat and a potential direct hit to our island,” the governor said in a YouTube video on Tuesday.
The weather service said Mawar could reach the southern part of Guam around noon local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
“If we don’t get a direct hit, it will be very close,” Patrick Doll, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Guam, told the Associated Press news agency.
The storm is expected to arrive as a 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour) Category 4 typhoon, weather experts said, possibly the biggest blow to the island in 20 years.
The typhoon could cause “extensive damage,” Doll warned.
#Guam first light Typhoon #Mawar approximately. The view over Tumon Bay pic.twitter.com/Znf9AHUc5Y
— Jim Edds (@ExtremeStorms) May 22, 2023
#typhoon #mawar is now a cat 4 and that eye is clearing – wouldn’t be surprised at all if it turns into a super typhoon in the next 24 hours pic.twitter.com/SEQyvs3wuH
— James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) May 23, 2023
The governor said she would effectively shut down Guam from 1pm (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday and urged people to take the warnings seriously and be prepared. Emergency shelters were available, she said.
A storm surge of 1.8 to 3 meters (6 to 10 ft) above normal high tide was expected, with warnings that it could be as high as 4.6 meters (15 ft). The surf was expected to increase sharply along the south and east reefs over the next day or two, with dangerous surf reaching 6 to 7.6 meters (20 to 25 ft) from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday, the weather service said.
At the island’s supermarkets and hardware stores, people left Monday with shopping carts full of canned goods, cases of water and generators, the Pacific Daily News reported.
Officials warned residents who do not live in all-concrete structures to move for their own safety. Many houses are made of wood and tin.
“The triple threat of Cat 4 typhoon-force winds, torrential rain and life-threatening storm surges are all expected for Guam and Rota,” the weather service said in a Tuesday morning update.
Rota, an island in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, also experienced a typhoon warning, Doll said. Tropical storm warnings were issued for Tinian and Saipan, in the northern Mariana Islands.
Some people in those areas are still in temporary shelters or tents after Category 5 super typhoon Yutu in 2018, Doll noted.
“Guam gets a Category 4 or 5 hit every five to seven years. Mother nature has been sparing us lately,” Doll said, adding that the last direct hit was in 2002. “So we’re way too late.”