The powerful Typhoon Mawar has left many residents of the United States territory of Guam without power and water, even as the storm moves away from the island.
On Thursday, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero gave the “all clear” as the National Weather Service (NWS) lifted a typhoon watch, returning the island to its normal state of typhoon readiness. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
“We now continue to focus our efforts on repairing infrastructure and restoring services to residents,” Leon Guerrero said in a statement. “After speaking with department leaders and seeing the incredible rapid response to the storm, I am confident we will make significant progresses towards restoration of services.”
The strongest typhoon to hit Guam since 2002, Mawar dumped more than 600mm (two feet) of rain in central and northern parts of the island. It also left about 51,000 households and businesses without power as of Wednesday evening, according to the Guam Power Authority.
The agency said that crews are attempting to bring back power to key facilities such as hospitals and water facilities. It has advised residents to boil water for the time being.
“We have weathered the storm,” Leon Guerrero said, adding that “the worst has gone by”.
During the worst of Wednesday’s storm, fierce winds lashed the island and residents emerged to a landscape of scattered debris and trees stripped of their foliage.
Scenes from around Tumon Bay, #Guam the day after #typhoon #mawar – lots of tree damage, power and water out, hum of generators everywhere, immediate shoreline battered by surge and some cars shunted around by wind pic.twitter.com/BsSmcDV9He
— James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) May 25, 2023
“We are waking up to a rather disturbing scene out there across Guam. We’re looking out our door and what used to be a jungle looks like toothpicks,” Landon Aydlett, an NWS meteorologist, said in a video streamed online.
“It looks like a scene from the movie Twister, with trees just thrashed apart.”
As of Thursday night, Mawar was centred about 314 kilometres (195 miles) northwest of Guam and was moving west northwest at about 13km/h (8mph).
