Typhoon Mawar roared over the US territory of Guam on Wednesday, bringing destructive winds to the Pacific military outpost.
The eye of the storm passed just north of the island, its governor said, after forecasters had warned that winds of up to 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour) could cause major damage. “What we are feeling right now is the eye going over the Rota Channel,” Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said in a Facebook video, referring to the body of water between the islands of Guam and Rota.
Local authorities earlier issued evacuation orders and opened temporary shelters, while US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for the island of 170,000 people, paving the way for federal aid. “I am in a concrete-reinforced house and my windows are shuttered. I did go outside briefly and winds are getting very gusty with intermittent rains,” Beckie Merrill, a 46-year-old middle school teacher, told AFP from a southern area of the island. After predicting a “direct hit” on Guam, forecasters later said the typhoon had moved just north of the island.
“It looks like we are getting a near hit with the eye passing through the Rota Channel. The southern wall of the eye will pass over much of Guam. The worst winds will be in the northern third of Guam,” the US National Weather Service told AFP. Warnings of extreme winds and flash floods have been issued for the island with wind speeds of 74 miles per hour already recorded, forecasters said. “I am worried for the safety of our people. This is the first storm of this magnitude for 20 years,” Guerrero said.