HAGATNA, Guam -- Guam residents and officials emerged from homes and shelters today to survey the damage done to the U.S. Pacific territory after a long night of hunkering down as Typhoon Mawar's howling winds shredded trees, flipped vehicles and knocked out utilities.
The central and northern parts of the island received more than 2 feet of rain as the eyewall passed, and most of Guam received about a foot of rain during the storm, said Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The island's international airport flooded, and the swirling storm churned up a storm surge and waves that crashed through coastal reefs.
"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 -- it looks like a scene from the movie 'Twister,' with trees just thrashed apart," said Landon Aydlett, his twin brother and fellow NWS meteorologist.
"Most of Guam is dealing with a major mess that's going to take weeks to clean up," he added.
The strongest typhoon to hit the territory of roughly 150,000 people since 2002, Mawar briefly made landfall around 9 p.m. local time Wednesday as a Category 4 storm at Andersen Air Force Base on the northern tip of the island, weather service officials said.
"It was on land for about 30 to 35 minutes before it moved back offshore," said Patrick Doll, another NWS meteorologist.
As it crept slowly over the island, the typhoon sent solar panels flying and crumbled part of a hotel's exterior wall to the ground, according to videos posted on social media. At what felt like its peak intensity, the winds screeched and howled like jets, and water swamped some homes.
Leah del Mundo spent the night with her family in their concrete home in Chalan Pago, in central Guam. She told The Associated Press they tried to sleep but were awakened "by violent shaking of the typhoon shutters and the whistling strong winds."
"It's not our first rodeo," she said by text message. "We've been through worse. But we brace ourselves for the cleanup, repairs, restoration afterwards."
In Tumon, on Guam's northeastern shore, winds tore a granite countertop from a hotel's outdoor bar and tossed it 4 feet in the air. Guests scrambled to stack chairs to brace the doors, and windows buckled and creaked.
"It was like a freight train going on outside," said Thomas Wooley, who recounted how wind and rain pushed through the aluminum shutters of his family's concrete home overlooking Tumon Bay. When day broke, he found their outdoor china cabinet toppled and its contents shattered on the ground. A chainsaw-wielding cousin helped clear downed branches.
"We've got tons of work to do," Wooley said. "It's going to take a few days to clean it up."
The scope of the damage was difficult to ascertain early on, with power and internet failures making communication with the distant island difficult.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio were assessing the situation after the island "received the full brunt of the typhoon overnight," emergency management officials said in a statement. They planned a driving tour to look for any major damage or blocked roadways.
J. Asprer, a police officer in the Dededo precinct in northern Guam, said before dawn that he had not received any reports of injuries but several police cars and personal vehicles had been damaged by debris and uprooted trees made some roads impassable. Most of the calls overnight came from worried people off-island who were unable to reach family members.
Guam's weather service office in Tiyan said it would shut down operations in the morning for workers to get home to families and assess damage at their homes. Counterparts in the Honolulu office took over their duties.
In a sign of how much help Guam might need, the Navy ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group to head to the island to assist in the recovery effort, according to a U.S. official. The Nimitz, along with the USS Bunker Hill, a cruiser, and the USS Wayne E. Meyer, a destroyer, were south of Japan and expected to arrive in Guam in three or four days, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements not yet made public.
Information for this article was contributed by Seth Borenstein, Lolita C. Baldor, Sarah Brumfield, Audrey McAvoy, Mark Thiessen, Stefanie Dazio and Ed Komenda of The Associated Press.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, downed tree branches litter a neighborhood in Yona, Guam, Thursday, May 25, 2023, after Typhoon Mawar passed over the island. The powerful typhoon smashed the U.S. territory of Guam and continued lashing the Pacific island with high winds and heavy rain Thursday, knocking down trees, walls and power lines and creating a powerful storm surge that threatened to wash out low-lying areas. (Chief Warrant Officer Adam Brown/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard overlooking Noverlooking Tumon Bay in Guam, as Super Typhoon Mawar closes in on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents of Guam are stockpiling supplies, battening down windows and abandoning wood and tin homes for emergency shelters as Super Typhoon Mawar bears down as the strongest storm to approach the U.S. Pacific territory in decades. ( Lt. Junior Grade Drew Lovullo/US Coast Guard via AP)
A school bus waits at the side of the Mongmong-Toto-Maite community center to transport residents to public schools set up as emergency shelters, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Guam, ahead of Typhoon Mawar. (AP Photo/Grace Garces Bordallo)
In this image taken from live a satellite video from the U.S. National Weather Service Guam, Typhoon Mawar is seen on radar at a press conference by the National Weather Service in the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam as the storm approached landfall, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (U.S. National Weather Service Guam via AP)
Trees stand stripped of leaves following Typhoon Mawar outside Hagatna, Guam, Thursday, May 25, 2023. The Category 4 typhoon pummeled the U.S. Pacific territory with howling winds, torrential rain and a life-threatening storm surge as residents hunkered down on the island. (AP Photo/Grace Garces Bordallo)
Trees lay on their sides following Typhoon Mawar outside Hagatna, Guam, Thursday, May 25, 2023. The Category 4 typhoon pummeled the U.S. Pacific territory with howling winds, torrential rain and a life-threatening storm surge as residents hunkered down on the island. (AP Photo/Grace Garces Bordallo)
This Himawari-9 infrared satellite image taken at 2 p.m. EDT and provided by NOAA shows Typhoon Mawar passing over the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (NOAA via AP)
In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, downed tree branches litter a neighborhood in Yona, Guam, Thursday, May 25, 2023, after Typhoon Mawar passed over the island. The powerful typhoon smashed the U.S. territory of Guam and continued lashing the Pacific island with high winds and heavy rain Thursday, knocking down trees, walls and power lines and creating a powerful storm surge that threatened to wash out low-lying areas. (Chief Warrant Officer Adam Brown/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)