Residents of Guam and surrounding U.S. island territories in the western Pacific were urged to take shelter as Super Typhoon Bavi was expected to make landfall early Monday, threatening an area still recovering from another destructive storm earlier this year.Bavi, a massive cyclone approaching the Mariana Islands east of the Philippines, was forecast to strike Rota early Monday morning local time, National Weather Service meteorologist Edwin Montvila said.“They are currently already encountering catastrophic wind,” he said of Rota, a territory of fewer than 2,000 people northeast of Guam, adding that an extreme wind warning was in effect for the island. The cyclone is forecast to be a category five super typhoon with winds that could reach 180 miles (290 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 215 miles (346 kilometers) per hour, Montvila said.
In addition to Rota, typhoon warnings were in effect for Guam, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm warnings and watches were in place for other islands in the area.The storm comes months after Super Typhoon Sinlaku, the strongest tropical cyclone this year, battered islands in the region in April, bringing ferocious winds and relentless rains. A cyclone becomes a super typhoon when it has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or stronger.
