Massive Pacific Typhoon Threatens Remote US Islands with Devastating Impact

With sustained winds reaching 173 mph as of Monday, Sinlaku has been deemed the strongest tropical typhoon on the planet this year, as reported by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The storm is currently approaching the islands of Rota, Tinian, and Saipan.

Though some weakening is forecast in the coming days, Sinlaku is likely to remain a formidable Category 4 or 5 typhoon as it crosses near the islands.

The typhoon’s projected path suggests it will either pass directly over or narrowly miss Tinian and Saipan, according to Joshua Schank, a lead meteorologist based in Guam for the National Weather Service.

About 50,000 people live on the three islands, with most on Saipan, known for its laid-back resorts, snorkeling and golf as well as the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Saipan was the site of one of World War II’s bloodiest battles in the Pacific, in which more than 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers and local civilians died.

In Guam, where Typhoon Mawar knocked out power for days in 2023, US military officials warned personnel to prepare for the storm and shelter in place. The military controls about one-third of the land on the island, a critical hub for US forces in the Pacific.

The island already was being hit by heavy rains and wind gusts up to 60 mph very early Tuesday, Schank said. Most businesses were closed and residents were told to stay home, he said.

Before turning toward Guam and the Northern Marianas, the storm left significant damage to the outer islands and atolls of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the weather service on Guam.

Glen Hunter, who grew up on Saipan, has weathered numerous typhoons. “We sit in what they call ‘Typhoon Alley,’” he said early Tuesday after waking up to strong gusts and seeing downed trees.

For the most part, residents live in sturdy, fully concrete homes and those in substandard wooden houses with tin roofs tend to stay with family or in government shelters, he said.

Tourism-dependent Saipan was still recovering from 2018’s Super Typhoon Yutu when the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, he recalled. The economy has yet to rebound, he said.

While bracing to take a direct hit, Hunter is also anticipating the possibility of going weeks or months without electricity and running water.

“We’re remote, beautiful islands in the Pacific, which is a plus, but in times of recovery it becomes a massive negative to getting things into our damaged ports, and so what we would hope for is just as much support as we can get from the outside world, the federal government, the military,” he said.

President Donald Trump on Saturday approved emergency disaster declarations for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, allowing for additional help with emergency services.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is coordinating support across multiple agencies, dispatching almost 100 FEMA staff as well as personnel from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation and US Army Corps of Engineers.

“We are ready to respond to this event,” Robert Fenton, a FEMA regional administrator, said from Guam on Monday afternoon local time. The agency began preparing supplies and staff late last week, he said.

FEMA’s response comes amid the record-long Department of Homeland Security Shutdown, but the agency’s emergency response functions continue during a funding impasse. Over 10,000 disaster personnel are still paid and FEMA’s disaster relief fund — which the agency said had about $3.6 billion around the end of March — can be spent until it runs out.

A super typhoon is a name given to the strongest tropical cyclones that brew in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where Earth’s most intense storms usually form.

Monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Guam, super typhoons are the equivalent of Category 4 or 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic, with winds of at least 150 mph. There have been more than 300 super typhoons identified since the warning center started using that name nearly 80 years ago.