Super Typhoon Bavi made landfall Monday on the Northern Mariana Islands island of Rota, bringing extreme, life-threatening winds and heavy rain, the National Weather Service said. The NWS said the eye of the storm was passing over Rota on Monday morning and that "widespread destructive winds in excess of 150 mph are occurring."
NWS meteorologist Edwin Montvila said, "They are currently already encountering catastrophic wind." An extreme wind warning was in effect for the island.
Montvila said the cyclone was forecast to be a category five super typhoon with winds that could reach 180 mph and gusts of 215 mph, and he said the storm was moving at a relatively fast pace but, because of its size, the islands could still face tropical storm conditions through at least Monday night.
Local NWS meteorologist Landon Aydlett, speaking from central Guam just after 1:30 a.m. Monday local time, said weather conditions were steadily deteriorating across all four populated islands, with torrential rain and strengthening winds, and called Bavi "a powerhouse super typhoon" that could be "near catastrophic" for any island that takes a direct hit.
Guam's Joint Information Center said the super typhoon was moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph at 7 a.m. Monday, making Bavi a major Category 5 storm. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center designates tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 150 mph or greater in the western north Pacific as super typhoons.
Typhoon warnings were in effect for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm warnings and watches were in place for other islands in the area.
Rota is an island of fewer than 2,000 people and is located some 40 miles northeast of Guam.
Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero urged people to stay home or at a shelter and to avoid the roads, saying in a social media video Sunday, "Here we are experiencing another severe force of winds on our island, but as we know, we are always ready and prepared in our planning and our protection of our people." She transitioned the island into a heightened status of emergency readiness on Sunday and during a press briefing urged residents to prepare, saying, "Be safe in your homes and please do not travel the roads, stay out of the waters and be safe."
Guam opened five evacuation centers in its schools with a combined maximum capacity of around 1,700, and the island's civil defence office said at 13:00 local time Sunday that one site had already reached maximum capacity and people were being redirected to another site.
Local governments have opened emergency shelters that have been nearing capacity, with residents in low-lying areas and those living in wood and tin homes especially likely to seek refuge. Officials said many people on Saipan and Tinian still had no power two-and-a-half months after Super Typhoon Sinlaku, and shelters on those islands were packed and officials had to turn people away.
Power outages were being reported throughout Guam earlier on Sunday, some flights were canceled and the Port Authority of Guam suspended operations. Andersen Air Force Base on Guam asked that only essential personnel access the base.
Forecasters warned of damaging flash flooding across the islands, and the NWS said dozens of schools and hospitals could be affected.
Scientists say climate change is making powerful typhoons more common, and a strong El Niño event is expected to push more tropical storms into higher intensities; Super Typhoon Sinlaku in April killed 17 people and caused about $1.5 billion in damage, and Bavi will be the 11th category four or five tropical cyclone to hit U.S. territory in the past decade.