Super Typhoon Bavi battered Guam and the Northern Marianas late Sunday, with police urging residents to take precautions as the storm was forecast to roar west early Monday as an equivalent of a category-5 hurricane. The forecast calls for catastrophic wind da
By late Sunday, the roads in Guam and the Northern Marianas were already oddly quiet. In some places, there were few cars at all—residents moving what they could before the worst of the weather arrived, and police driving around to warn people to prepare.
It wasn’t just inconvenience. Forecasters warned that Super Typhoon Bavi carried the kind of force that can leave areas almost unrecognizable.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast that Bavi would move westwards over the region early Monday. with maximum sustained winds of up to 280 kilometres (173 miles) per hour and gusts of 333 kmh. The National Weather Service called the typhoon “very dangerous. ” warning of possible “catastrophic wind damage” near the eye. along with storm surges and “hazardous” surf.
For Pinky Cubacub, 55, the planning started early. As she boarded up the windows of her eatery, she described lining up early on Saturday to buy $500 worth of plywood at a lumber store.
“I cannot afford to lose so many days. It hurts,” she told AFP.
In the Northern Marianas and Guam—together home to around 210. 000 people—preparations were already visible in small. everyday decisions: sandbags. taped windows. shutters pulled into place. Arabella Paulino, a 48-year-old call center employee, said the fear was already in her household before the storm fully hit.
“My girls were saying to me it’s scary. But it will be okay,” she told AFP.
Paulino added that her house is concrete, leaving her with a clearer, colder sense of what could happen.
“My house is concrete, so the worst that can happen is a window could blow in,” she told AFP.
In Guam, Japanese tourist Miku Sakurai, 25, had been planning to fly back to Tokyo with friends, but their flight was cancelled.
“We will stay in the hotel when the storm comes. I am scared,” she told AFP.
Not everyone chose indoor shelter. Around a dozen surfers were taking advantage of the wind at one beach in Guam’s Talofofo Bay.
“There’s quite a lot of debris in the water but it’s a lot of fun,” one of them said.
The storm’s danger is not theoretical for this part of the Pacific. Super Typhoon Sinlaku. which hit the region in mid-April. knocked out power for tens of thousands of inhabitants. uprooted trees. overturned cars and ripped metal roofs off buildings. In 2023, another massive typhoon, Mawar—the biggest in decades—caused devastation across the area.
The latest forecast adds another level of urgency because of where Bavi is expected to pass. The NWS said Bavi was forecast to pass nearest the small island of Rota, the southernmost part of the Northern Marianas, at around 8:00 am on Monday (2200 GMT Sunday).
Rota is home to around 1,500 people. If Bavi tracks near or over Rota, the NWS warned that most of the area “will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer.” It said many non-concrete, non-reinforced homes would be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse.
The outlook also includes widespread damage to the island’s infrastructure: “Nearly all trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months.”
Rota mayor Aubry Hocog urged residents to prepare and lean on community support.
“By working together and taking the necessary precautions, we can help protect our families, neighbors and community. We pray for the safety of our people,” he said.
The storm’s timing comes as the broader climate backdrop has been growing more volatile. The European Union’s Copernicus Marine Service said the world’s oceans experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead. Warmer oceans help tropical storms intensify and add more moisture, which can fall as heavy rain.
The World Meteorological Organization warned on Friday that El Nino. which typically occurs every two to seven years and lasts nine to 12 months. has already begun in the tropical Pacific and is likely to be strong. The natural climate phenomenon warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. bringing worldwide changes in winds. pressure and rainfall patterns.
For Guam and the Northern Marianas, the forecast now turns into a countdown. Cars stay off the roads. Windows get boarded. Flights get cancelled. And in places like Rota. where the NWS expects weeks—perhaps longer—of uninhabitable conditions. residents prepare not just for a storm. but for the long stretch after it.
Super Typhoon Bavi Guam Northern Marianas Rota Joint Typhoon Warning Center National Weather Service catastrophic wind damage storm surge hazardous surf El Nino Copernicus Marine Service World Meteorological Organization