Typhoon Mawar ‘reintensifies’ as it heads for Philippines after battering Guam

Mawar has “re-intensified” into a super typhoon as it now heads to the Philippines, the state’s weather service said after a brief weakening of the storm after it passed over Guam.

The cyclone is currently packing winds of up to 185km per hour near the centre and gusts of up to 230kph as it moves west-northwestward, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

The typhoon passed through Guam yesterday which successfully weathered the storm, believed to be the strongest storm in years to hit the Western Pacific Island.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has upgraded Mawar into a “Violent Typhoon”, a category stronger than super typhoon.

The agency said the typhoon now has 10-minute sustained winds of 195 kmh with gusts of 280 kmh.

A violent typhoon is the highest category used by the JMA to classify tropical cyclones.

Residents in Guam were battered by heavy winds and rains all throughout the day yesterday. But as the strongest typhoon to hit the territory crept slowly over the island at night, the horror intensified.

The winds sent solar panels flying, ripped roofs off homes and crumbled part of a hotel’s exterior wall to the ground, according to videos posted on social media.

At what felt like its peak intensity, the winds screeched and howled like jets, and water swamped some homes, residents say.

Leah del Mundo, who spent the night with her family in their concrete home in Chalan Pago, in central Guam told The Associated Press they tried to sleep but were awakened “by violent shaking of the typhoon shutters and the whistling strong winds.”

“It’s not our first rodeo,” she told the news agency via text message. “We’ve been through worse. But we brace ourselves for the cleanup, repairs, restoration afterwards.”

Winds peeled back the roof of Enrique Baza’s mother’s house in Yona, allowing water to damage everything inside.

“My mom’s house didn’t escape,” he said, adding that his mother stayed with him in his concrete home during the storm.

He drove around in a pickup truck looking for supplies to repair his mother’s roof, but most stores were without power and only accepting cash. Many wooden or tin homes he passed were badly beaten or collapsed.

“It’s kind of a shock,” he said.

In Tumon, on Guam’s northeastern shore, winds tore a granite countertop from a hotel’s outdoor bar and tossed it into the air. Guests scrambled to stack chairs to brace the doors, and windows buckled and creaked.

“It was like a freight train going on outside,” said Thomas Wooley, who recounted how wind and rain pushed through the aluminium shutters of his family’s concrete home overlooking Tumon Bay.

When day broke, he found their outdoor china cabinet toppled and its contents shattered on the ground. A chainsaw-wielding relative helped clear downed branches.

“We’ve got tons of work to do,” Mr Wooley said.

Guam’s weather service office in Tiyan said it would shut down operations in the morning for workers to get home to families and assess damage at their homes. Counterparts in the Honolulu office took over their duties.

Mackenzie Miller, a nurse at Guam Memorial Hospital, said on Facebook that she had come for a four-hour recharge after a 12-hour shift before heading back to work.

“We have all been here for 2 days now sleeping here and working. We can’t even see outside because the doors have been blown in and we can’t get close,” Ms Miller wrote.

“But the hospital is flooding everywhere, ceiling is falling down. The flooding is sparking electrical outlets and causing smoke and fires. The wind is so strong and loud it is shaking the entire building so bad.”

Many residents of Guam remain without power and utilities today after Typhoon Mawar tore through the remote US Pacific territory yesterday night.

While the typhoon weakened to category 4, the heavy rains flooded the airport and buildings, gusts of winds ripped roofs off homes, flipped vehicles and shredded trees.

There were minor injuries reported but no fatalities, according to the governor’s office.

“We are waking up to a rather disturbing scene out there across Guam. We’re looking out our door and what used to be a jungle looks like toothpicks — it looks like a scene from the movie ‘Twister,’ with trees just thrashed apart,” said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“Most of Guam is dealing with a major mess that’s gonna take weeks to clean up,” he added.

Typhoon Mawar, which has “reintensified” into a category 5 super typhoon, is heading towards the Philippines after weakening as it passed over Guam.

The typhoon is expected to make direct landfall in any part of the country but the Philippine state weather agency says it is not ruling out any possibilities.

The typhoon will likely bring moderate to intense rains over northern areas like Cagayan Valley and extreme northern Luzon over the weekend until Monday, according to the state weather agency.

“As it moves nearer to our area, it’s possible that it may cause huge waves over the eastern seaboard of the country,” PAGASA weather specialist Benison Estareja told the Philippines Star, and “may gradually enhance” the southwest monsoon.

As typhoon Mawar moved away from Guam, the governor of the US island territory expressed relief but asked residents to remain at home until further government orders.

“I am so glad we are safe. We have weathered this storm,” said Guam’s governor Lou Leon Guerrero in a video message.

While the governor said “the worst has gone by“, she urged residents to remain at home until the government declared the situation safe.

Typhoon Mawar had weakened into a category 4 storm from a super typhoon when it passed through Guam but left the Pacific island territory with widespread damage due to heavy rains and winds.

“It seems that roads are passable, but you should not be on the road,” Ms Guerrero said after touring the island, a US territory that is home to about 170,000 people, including about 10,000 US military personnel.

Before landfall, when Mawar was a super typhoon, she had compared the storm to 1962’s Typhoon Karen, which flattened much of the island.

Guam successfully weathered the strongest storm in years as typhoon Mawar swept across the Western Pacific Island last night.

Mawar made landfall at local time 9pm but the island was battered by heavy rains and powerful winds of up to 240 kph for hours yesterday, that uprooted trees, blew away roofs, and brought the US territory to a standstill.

According to the Guam Power Authority, nearly all of the island’s 52,000 homes and businesses experienced power outages, with only 1,000 retaining electricity.

Despite the intense conditions, the island managed to avoid significant damage.

There are no reports of unusual incidents in hospital emergency rooms, and the overall impact included moderate damages such as localised flooding, fallen debris, and downed power lines.

More images and videos of damages caused by Typhoon Marwar are emerging from Guam.

A video posted by a resident shows the Guam International Airport flooded after heavy rains lashed the island.

The airport recorded sustained winds of 71 mph with a gust of 105 mph.