INA-SOURCES

A “super typhoon” with equivalent force to a category-five hurricane tore through the US island of Rota in the Pacific on Monday, with authorities saying they had received reports of “major” damage.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the western eyewall of Super Typhoon Bavi was “currently moving over the island of Rota” and forecast winds of 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour).

It urged residents on X to “treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to an interior room or shelter NOW!”

Local authorities on the small island -– the southernmost part of the Northern Marianas — said they had already received reports from some of its roughly 1,500 inhabitants of “major damages”.

“We are hanging in there. We are experiencing heavy winds and flooding here… Some people already reporting major damages,” the Rota Municipal Operations Center’s public information officer Lou Rosario said.

Rosario added that some cellphone services were down because of a fallen tower.

NWS meteorologist Landon Aydlett told a briefing on Facebook Live that the entirety of Rota was within the eye of the storm with maximum winds of 180 mph recorded.

The island of Tinian, northern parts of Guam and the southern tip of Saipan experienced winds equivalent to a category-one hurricane, Aydlett said.

“Super Typhoon Bavi is leaving the area,” he said.

“Gradually, conditions are going to be improving. That is great news for us. It’s not going to be lingering around like Super Typhoon Sinlaku did… in April.”

The Northern Marianas and the nearby separate US territory of Guam are collectively home to around 210,000 people.

Authorities on Guam had said the island could see eight to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters) of rain, resulting in potential flash flooding.

When Sinlaku hit the island group — around 9,500 kilometres (6,000 miles) west of the mainland United States — it caused widespread devastation, ripping off roofs, toppling trees and leaving tens of thousands without power.

In 2023, another massive storm, Mawar, the biggest in decades, did huge damage.

Previously, the NWS had warned that a direct hit on Rota would make most of the island “uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer.”

“Many non-concrete, non-reinforced homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse,” it said.

“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.”

SOURCE: INQUIRERE