Super typhoon Bavi threatens Guam, Mariana Islands with catastrophic winds

Typhoon Bavi had strengthened into a super typhoon with sustained winds of 160 to 165 mph as it approached Guam and the rest of the Mariana Islands, putting the U.S. territories under a Typhoon Warning and raising the prospect of catastrophic winds, surge and flooding. Guam Homeland Security said Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero placed Guam in State of Emergency and Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 2 at about 10 p.m. Saturday, as the storm’s center sat roughly 380 miles east of Guam and moved west at about 8 mph.

The National Weather Service in Guam kept Typhoon Warnings in effect for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm watches and warnings extended to some outer islands. Forecasters warned that Bavi could drive waves of 25 to 35 feet, with some projections reaching 45 feet, and dump as much as 20 inches of rain. The heaviest impacts were expected along the east-facing reefs and low-lying coastal areas, where dangerous surf, flash flooding and landslides could quickly overwhelm roads, harbors and power systems.

The danger was magnified by geography and by the narrow margin for error across a chain of islands that depends on ports, air links and outside supply lines. Bavi was described as the second super typhoon to threaten the U.S. Pacific territories since April 2026, a reminder that Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have been forced to absorb back-to-back threats while still dealing with recent tropical-cyclone damage in the region. The storm’s track threatened not just Guam but also Rota, Saipan, Tinian, Pagan and Agrihan, spreading emergency pressure across a broad and sparsely distributed territory.

History made the warning harder to ignore. NOAA-based reporting says 14 Category 4-or-stronger typhoons have passed within 70 miles of Guam since 1949, and only one super typhoon has ever tracked directly over Guam since World War II. That storm, Super Typhoon Karen in 1962, destroyed 95% of homes on Guam, left 9,000 people homeless and killed nine. With Bavi threatening to bring another round of extreme wind and surge, civil authorities and military installations across Joint Region Marianas faced a test of evacuation limits, shelter capacity and supply resilience before the storm’s closest approach.