Global Courant 2023-05-24 15:37:58
Typhoon Mawar turned its wrath on the tiny US territory of Guam on Wednesday as residents with nowhere to go bent down to deal with the devastating winds and torrential rain of what was expected to be the worst storm to hit the Pacific island. would take decades.
The U.S. military dismissed ships, residents stockpiled supplies, and anyone not living in a concrete home was urged to seek safety elsewhere ahead of the typhoon, which was expected to arrive as a Category 4 storm with winds of 225 km/h, but might get stronger to a category 5, the most powerful. The last time a Category 5 hit Guam directly was in 1962.
Forecasters for the U.S. National Weather Service in Guam said they saw “near white conditions” at their offices and heard soft rumbles and shaking shutters and doors as the storm intensified Wednesday afternoon local time.
“Stay in. Trees are falling, power lines are coming down,” said Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the agency. “Everything is changing – it’s too dangerous to be outside.”
64 cm of rain possible
Many communities on the 549-square-mile island lost power by noon, and some in the south ran out of water. A flash flood warning was issued for the entire island, as forecasters predicted as much as 64 inches of rain in addition to a life-threatening storm surge of 1.2 to 2 metres, with dangerous surf reaching 6 to 9 metres.
Prior to the storm, Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of more than 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations. The highest point on the island is Mt. Lamlam in the southwest at 406 meters. But much of the beachfront tourist district of Tamuning, where many resort hotels are located, is close to sea level.
In low-lying Agat along the south coast, resident Reuel Drilon began preparations Friday and spent the weekend tying down patio furniture and dumpsters. Nearly every house in the village, he said, has a mango tree — which officials warned could be ripped from the ground and become roadblocks and deadly flying projectiles.
Guam Power Authority personnel perform tree trimming work Tuesday to clear branches from power lines. (Rick Cruz/The Pacific Daily/The Associated Press)
“A lot of people are watching trees,” he told The Associated Press before the storm hit. “In the south we have a lot of coconut palms and mango trees.”
Guam is a critical hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island. Vice Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, commander of the Joint Region Marianas, authorized the evacuation of defense personnel, dependents and employees in areas expected to be affected.
The military said it has moved its ships to sea as a standard precaution. It sent its planes off the island or placed them in protective hangars. All personnel remaining on the island went into hiding. About 6,800 U.S. military personnel have been sent to Guam, according to the Pentagon.
Residents taken to shelters
With rain from the storm’s outer bands already falling over the island as early as Wednesday morning, the typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph with gusts peaking at 170 mph, said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Guam. The center was located about 120 kilometers southeast of the island and moved to the northwest.
If Guam doesn’t get a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, the weather service’s lead meteorologist in Guam.
School buses picked up residents at community centers on the island and took them to 11 primary schools equipped as shelters. Municipal workers in several villages warned residents to secure loose items in their yards and seek shelter immediately. Some spread the word through a megaphone, while others took to social media. The power flickered on and off as the rain and wind intensified, and officials said nearly 900 people were in shelters.
Leon Guerrero, in a YouTube post, urged residents to remain calm and ordered the National Guard to help those in low-lying areas flee, saying: “We are in the crosshairs of Typhoon Mawar. Take action now .”
Guerrero said an emergency declaration approved by President Joe Biden will support the mobilization of resources to Guam, which is “especially critical given our distance from the mainland US.”
The storm was moving at 6 mph but had an eye 17 miles wide, meaning people in the typhoon’s center could see calm conditions for more than three hours and conclude far too quickly that the worst is over Doll said. As the eye goes away, winds can reach 150 mph in minutes, so people should stay sheltered until the government clears everything.
“People can say, ‘Hey, it’s over, we can go out and start cleaning up,'” Doll said. “That’s all wrong.”
“Will the house stay?”
Joshua Paulino, a customer manager at Xerox Guam, took shelter at home in the central village of Chalan Pago with his wife, two sons and mother after the family shuttered and secured objects outside. He was concerned that the storm could bring rain to the island for a long time, as it was expected to gradually pass.
“This storm is moving really slowly, so that really makes me uncomfortable,” Paulino said via text message.
And an ocean away in Los Angeles, Marichelle Tanag sat afar brooding over her parents, who are in their 70s and have survived many typhoons in their decades on the island. They sealed windows, stocked up on food for a few weeks, primed the generator and filled bathtubs with water. Their house in Tamuning, also in central Guam, is made of concrete, but it still worried her.
Trees sway in strong winds from Typhoon Mawar in Tamuning, Guam, on Wednesday. (@rachel.j/Instagram/Reuters)
“Will the house stay? . . . If not, can they move to another safe place as quickly as possible and avoid flying debris?” said Tanag over the phone.
Rota, an island in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, also received a typhoon warning, Doll said.
Tinian and Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, were warned of tropical storms.
Some people in those areas are still in temporary shelters or tents after Category 5 super typhoon Yutu in 2018, Doll noted.
