Super Typhoon Bavi puts Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on alert, fuel and food lines grow

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have been placed on alert as Super Typhoon Bavi approaches, a powerful tropical system that has strengthened to its maximum level and is expected to strike the U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean early next week.

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), Bavi has already reached “super typhoon” status, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. At midnight, the storm was moving westward with sustained winds of up to 259 kilometers per hour, while gusts reached 314 kilometers per hour.

Meteorologists’ forecasts show that the storm may lose some strength before reaching Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Monday morning, however it is still expected to bring dangerous tropical storm conditions.

The U.S. National Weather Service has assessed that the storm’s projected path creates “an alarming outlook for the Mariana Islands” and has urged residents to complete all preparations as soon as possible.

In Saipan, vehicles lined up at fuel stations, while residents headed to stores to secure plywood, protective materials for their homes, as well as food supplies and drinking water.

The region could face a second strike from a super typhoon in just two months, after Super Typhoon Shinlaku in April caused major power outages, knocked down trees, overturned vehicles and damaged hundreds of buildings.

In the face of the storm threat, preparations for celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the United States have taken a back seat.

The Northern Mariana Islands have about 40,000 residents, while Guam has approximately 170,000 inhabitants. One local resident said that “two super typhoons within two months is something historic” and that the archipelago has never experienced such a situation before.

At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization said that the El Niño climate phenomenon has already begun in the tropical Pacific. This phenomenon, which usually appears every two to seven years, raises ocean surface temperatures and affects wind and rainfall circulation, altering climate patterns around the world.