2023-05-24 10:13:43
HAGATNA. He Typhoon Mawar turned its fury Wednesday once morest the tiny US territory of Guamas people with nowhere to flee braced for devastating winds and torrential rains from what was expected to be one of the worst storms in decades on the Pacific island.
The US military sent its ships out to sea, the population was stocking up on supplies, and everyone not living in concrete buildings was instructed to take refuge elsewhere before the arrival of the typhoon, which was expected to hit as a major storm. 4 with winds from regarding 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour but might gain strength and reach category 5, the strongest on the scale. Guam has not been hit directly by a Category 5 storm since 1962.
Experts at the local office of the National Weather Service reported virtually zero visibility in their office on Wednesday, as well as low noises and rattling shutters and doors as the meteor approached.
Lightning was a growing threat in the late followingnoon, the weather service said. “Stay inside. Trees are down, power lines are down,” said Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist for the service. “Everything is changing, it is too dangerous to be outside.”
without light and without water
Many communities on the 549-square-kilometre (212-square-mile) island had lost power in the followingnoon and some to the south had been left without running water. A flash flood watch was issued for the entire island, as experts expected up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain in addition to a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 2 meters).
Before the storm’s arrival, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero ordered residents in coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas to vacate and move to higher areas in the territory of 150,000 inhabitants. The highest point on the island is Mount Lamlam in the southwest, which measures 406 meters. But much of the tourist district of Tamuning, where there are many hotels, is close to sea level.
Guam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific, and one-third of its area is under Department of Defense control. Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, commander of the Joint Marianas Region, authorized the evacuation of defense personnel, their dependents and employees from areas forecast to be affected.
All the ships were sent to sea as a regular precaution, according to the US Navy, and all remaining personnel were taking shelter on the island. The United States has regarding 6,800 military personnel on Guam, according to the Pentagon.
Rain from the outer bands of the storm was already falling in the territory on Wednesday morning local time, and the typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour), with gusts of up to 274 km/h ( 170 mph), Aydlett said. The vortex was located 120 kilometers (75 miles) to the southeast of the island and was moving in a north-northwest direction.
The weather service warned of a “triple threat” of life-threatening winds, torrential rains and storm surge on Guam, noting that the storm might make landfall on Wednesday followingnoon in the southern part of the territory. Guam is located west of the International Date Line and is one day ahead of the mainland and Hawaii.
Even if Guam doesn’t take a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, director of the weather service on the territory. Mawar means “rose” in Malay, he noted.
The storm was approaching at 11 kilometers (7 miles) per hour, but it had an eye 27 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter, which meant that people in the center of the typhoon might have a calm situation for three hours and conclude too quickly that the worst was over, Doll said. When the eye moved away, the wind might reach 150 miles (241 kilometers) per hour in a matter of minutes, so people had to stay sheltered until the government gave the go-ahead.
Kelleher reported from Honolulu. AP science writer Seth Borenstein and journalists Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report.
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