As Super Typhoon Bavi moved away from the Mariana Islands on Monday, residents began to take stock of the damage around their homes and villages.
An official assessment won’t be conducted until Tuesday morning, according to Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero.
“First thing tomorrow morning, early, early tomorrow morning, I am going to go out and make an assessment,” Leon Guerrero said. “Just a very quick cursory look to see what it means in terms of recovery time.”
Guam, Rota, Saipan and Tinian remained under a typhoon warning, and people were urged to stay in their safe shelters until the all-clear was given.
The Category 5 storm slammed into the island chain Sunday night, with heavy rains beginning just before midnight. By morning, roads were flooded and storm debris lay in the streets.
Preliminary data show all four islands had typhoon-force winds. Sustained winds of 74 mph were recorded at Andersen Air Force Base Monday afternoon, and a gust of 110 mph was recorded at Guam International Airport.
At the National Weather Service office in Tiyan, Warning Coordination Meteorologist Landon Aydlett said, “the building is just vibrating with the triple-digit wind gusts that we're seeing here.”
The storm’s eye encompassed Rota, with the eyewall blasting the 33-square-mile island and its 1,800 residents with 180 mph winds beginning at 6 a.m. Bavi tore apart the mayor’s office, brought surf estimated at 35 feet and triggered flash floods.
Throughout the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 517 people sought emergency shelter. The CNMI is still recovering from the destruction of Super Typhoon Sinlaku in April.
On Guam, 1,664 people went to emergency shelters.
On all islands, utilities were affected. Saipan reported an islandwide power outage on Sunday night, with crews standing down until conditions cleared enough to ensure the safety of workers.
Leon Guerrero said Guam’s recovery is closely “dependent on how well our transmission, electrical transmission lines stood up. I’m hoping that it did stand up.”
Guam Power Authority reported that as of 10 a.m. Monday, about 25% of distribution feeders were online, including Andersen Air Force Base, Camp Blaz, Guam Memorial Hospital and Tumon underground systems.
But the main transmission lines powering southern Guam were down, and there was no power to the south.
GPA also warned that additional feeders may go offline as the storm continues to pass through the island. As of early Monday afternoon, Guam was still seeing tropical storm-force winds throughout the island, and typhoon-force winds were recorded on Andersen Air Force Base just before 1 p.m.
