Shelters fill, residents rush to safety as Super Typhoon Mawar approaches Guam

HONOLULU (AP) — President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration as an intensifying Super Typhoon Mawar approached Guam, where anyone not living in a concrete house was warned to seek safety elsewhere and emergency shelters began to fill ahead of what could be the most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific territory in two decades.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said on social media that the declaration will support the mobilisation of resources into Guam, which is “especially crucial given our distance from the continental US.”

Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations.

“I anticipate that this situation will be of such severity and magnitude that an effective response will be beyond the capability of the government of Guam and supplementary federal assistance will be necessary to save lives and to protect property, public health and safety and to mitigate the effects of this imminent catastrophe,” Guerrero said in a letter to the president requesting a “pre-landfall emergency” for Guam.

With rain from the storm's outer bands already falling on the territory, National Weather Service said the storm had been upgraded to a Category 4 “super typhoon,” meaning maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or greater.

Its centre was about 140 miles (225 kilometres) southeast of Guam late Tuesday local time and was moving to the north-northwest, according to the weather service.

The weather service said the storm was intensifying and warned of a “triple threat” of winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge on Guam.

The weather service said the storm could hit southern Guam around midday Wednesday, which is Tuesday evening in the mainland United States. Guam lies to the west of the International Date Line and is a day ahead of the mainland.

If Guam doesn't take a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, the lead weather service meteorologist in Tiyan, Guam. Doll said the typhoon could cause “extensive damage.”

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