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Hurricane Rose directed its fury at the small US territory of Guam on Wednesday as residents left nowhere to hunker down to face damaging winds and heavy rain from what is expected to be the worst storm to hit the Pacific island in decades.
The US military is sending ships, residents are stockpiling supplies and anyone not living in concrete homes is being advised to seek safety elsewhere ahead of the typhoon, which is forecast to arrive as a Category 4 storm with winds of 225 km/h but could be stronger. to Category 5, the strongest. The last time a Category 5 directly attacked Guam was in 1962.
Forecasters at the US National Weather Service in Guam said they saw “almost white-out conditions” in their offices and heard rumbling and shaking and doors as the storm intensified Wednesday afternoon local time.
“Stay inside. Trees are down, power lines are down,” said Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the service. “Everything has changed – it’s too dangerous to be outside.”
Lightning has become an increasing threat as conditions continue to deteriorate into the evening, the weather service reported. An extreme wind warning is in effect for northern Guam due to a dangerous hurricane.
64 cm of rain is possible
Many communities on the 549-square-kilometer island had lost power in the afternoon and some in the south lost water service. A flash flood warning has been issued for the entire island as 64 centimeters of rain is forecast in addition to a life-threatening storm surge of 1.2 to two metres, with dangerous waves of six to nine metres.
Before the storm, Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of more than 150,000 people to evacuate to higher ground. The highest point on the island is Mount Lamlam in the southwest with a height of 406 meters. But many of Tamuning’s beach tourist districts, with many resort hotels, are close to sea level.
In low-lying Agat on the south coast, resident Reuel Drilon began preparing on Friday and spent the weekend tying patio furniture and trash containers. Nearly every house in the village, he said, has a mango tree – which officials warn can uproot from the ground and become roadblocks and deadly flying projectiles.
“A lot of people are looking at trees,” he told The Associated Press before the storm. “To the south, there are many coconut and mango trees.”
Guam is an important hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island. Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, commander of the Joint Region Marianas, authorized the evacuation of defense personnel, dependents and employees in the affected area.
The military said the ship moved out to sea as a standard precaution. It sends the plane from the island or placed in a protective hangar. Any personnel remaining on the island are in shelters. About 6,800 US service members are stationed in Guam, according to the Pentagon.
Residents were transported to shelters
Rain from the storm fell on the island, and on Wednesday afternoon the typhoon had maximum winds of 225 km / h, according to the National Weather Service, and the previous high winds were at 274 km / h. Its center is about 24 kilometers northeast of the island.
If Guam doesn’t hit immediately, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, Guam’s chief weather service meteorologist. Mawar is a Malaysian word meaning “rose,” he said.
School buses pick up residents at the island’s community center and transport them to 11 elementary schools set up as shelters. Civil workers in various villages warned residents to keep loose items in their yards and seek shelter immediately. Some spread the word with megaphones, while others took to social media. Power was out as the rain and wind intensified, and officials said nearly 900 people were in shelters.
Leon Guerrero encouraged residents in a YouTube message to remain calm and ordered the National Guard to help those in low-lying areas evacuate, saying, “We are in the crosshairs of Typhoon Mawar. Act now.”
Guerrero said the emergency declaration approved by President Joe Biden will support the mobilization of resources to Guam, which is “especially important because of our distance from the continental US”
Joshua Paulino, a client manager at Xerox Guam, evacuated his home in the central village of Chalan Pago with his wife, two sons and their mother after the family closed the shutters and secured outdoor objects. They are worried that the storm could dump rain on the island for a long time, as it is predicted to pass.
“This storm is moving slowly, so I’m not comfortable,” Paulino said in a text message.
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