The governor of Guam ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations.
HONOLULU — Residents of Guam stockpiled supplies, battened down windows and abandoned wood and tin homes for emergency shelters as Super Typhoon Mawar bore down as the strongest storm to approach the U.S. Pacific territory in decades.
Federal assistance will be needed to save lives and property and “mitigate the effects of this imminent catastrophe,” Guerrero said in a letter to the president requesting a “pre-landfall emergency” for Guam. Officials warned residents who aren’t in fully concrete structures — some homes on the far-flung island are made of wood and tin — to consider relocating.
With rain from the storm’s outer bands already falling on the territory, the National Weather Service said the storm had been upgraded to a Category 4 “super typhoon,” meaning maximum sustained winds of 150 mph or greater. Its center was about 90 miles southeast of Guam early Wednesday local time and was moving to the north-northwest, according to the weather service.
Mawar was expected to arrive as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds Wednesday afternoon, Doll said, and a direct hit would be the first of that category since Super Typhoon Karen in 1962. The last super typhoon to hit Guam was Category 4 Pongsona in 2002, he said. to remain calm and ordered the National Guard to help those in low-lying areas evacuate as people stocked up on water and generators.
The storm was moving at only 3 mph but had an eye 17 miles wide, meaning people at the typhoon’s center could see calm conditions for over three hours and conclude, far too soon, that the worst is over, Doll said. As the eye leaves, the winds could rise to 150 mph in minutes, so people should remain sheltered until the government gives the all-clear, he said.
Guam resident Albert Eliasson told KUAM News he was battening down and stocking up, including ensuring there was enough water to drink and flush toilets.Another resident, Oshean Saralu, told KUAM he too was doing everything he could to prepare: “We usually pack everything up for most of our stuff inside our garage and just secure everything, especially the windows.”
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