People in Guam and the Northern Marianas moved to emergency evacuation centres and made last-minute preparations on Sunday, hours before a “super typhoon” was projected to bulldoze through the US Pacific territories.
Super Typhoon Bavi was forecast to roar westwards over the area at around 10.00am (0000 GMT) on Monday with winds of 260 kilometres (160 miles) per hour – equivalent to a category 5 hurricane – and gusts of up to 315kph.
The National Weather Service (NWS) called the typhoon “very dangerous”, warning of “tropical storm force” winds from Sunday afternoon or evening and “catastrophic” damage near the system’s centre later.
“Significant flooding from torrential rains, and coastal inundation are expected,” the NWS said, with projected waves of up to 35 feet (10.7 metres) – the height of a 10-storey building – creating “extremely dangerous” conditions at sea.
There were few cars on the roads in Guam on Sunday as heavy rain and strong winds lashed the island.
Pinky Cubacub, 55, said as she boarded up the windows of her eatery that she had lined up early on Saturday to buy US$500 worth of plywood at a timber store.
