Typhoon Mawar hits Guam with powerful wind and power outages
Typhoon Mawar passed through Guam on Wednesday night local time, bringing powerful winds that knocked down power lines and trees throughout the island. It’s the strongest storm to hit the island in decades since Typhoon Pangsona hit in 2002.
A meteorologist from the NWS Guam in a recent update called the conditions “life-threatening” while advising residents to stay sheltered for the next couple of hours in an interior room.
“Right here at the weather service operations area, the building is vibrating, we have constant low rumbling, and our doors and windows are shaking,” he said.
Wind speeds have ranged from 105 to 140 mph in the area, he said, which were eventually strong enough to disable the station’s wind sensors.
On Sunday the National Weather Service in Guam picked up the “intensifying” typhoon on its radar and called for a “rush to completion all preps.”
Satellite imagery now shows a well-defined eye on TY Mawar, a powerful, intensifying, 125mph Cat-3 typhoon. Rush to completion all preps & know where to shelter in a fully-concrete structure. CNMI: plan for typhoon conditions should Mawar shift farther north. pic.twitter.com/dsGxsjP1Md
— NWS Guam 🇬🇺 (@NWSGuam) May 23, 2023
The typhoon was a Category 4 when it hit the island, located 1,500 miles east of the Philippines. Once the tropical storm hit land, its category was downgraded from Category 5 to Category 4, reported The Washington Post.
About 150,000 people live there, most of whom lost power before nightfall on Wednesday due to increasing wind and rain as the storm hit land, per The New York Times.
In addition to an extreme wind warning that has been in effect for the past day, the danger of flash flooding is possible from an estimated 10 to 15 inches of rain, per the NWS Guam.
A state of emergency was issued by the White House to give federal assistance in the area and emergency shelters were assembled.
There is no information yet of any casualties or estimation of damage.
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