Super Typhoon Mawar Moves Over Warm Water, and Oceans Have a Damping, Strong, Rapid Growth, and Its Effects on Tropical Storms
As dangerous as Super Typhoon Mawar’s winds will be, it is water that poses the largest risk. Storm surge can scour the land, removing buildings, vegetation and everything else in its path.
Mawar intensified and moved over warm water in the Pacific. Oceans around the world are experiencing record-breaking temperatures this year.
Mawar has rapidly gained strength as it moves toward land. In just one day, it went from a Category 1 storm, with winds that might remove a few shingles, to a Category 4 storm with winds powerful enough to tear away roofs entirely.
Such rapid intensification is increasingly common. And storms that gain strength quickly can be extremely dangerous because there is less time to warn people in harm’s way. Ian was a catastrophic storm last year before it hit Florida. Ida gained strength before it made its way to Louisiana.
The same can be said of typhoons. Different regions of the world use different words for the spinning storms. The term Super Typhoon is similar to the term Major Hurricane. It means storms with strong winds.
Because heat is fuel for hurricanes, it makes sense that persistently warm water at the surface of the ocean would help fuel large, powerful storms. Climate change can have an effect on how quickly a storm grows in strength, and this can make it harder for scientists to predict long-term trends.
Climate change makes storm surge and flooding more severe. Sea level rise is increasing storm surge’s dangers. The water along the coast is higher than it was in the past, which exacerbates the damage from storm surge. Guam and the Mariana Islands are especially vulnerable to rising seas because they are low-lying island territories.
“I’m looking out of my window and I just see massive waves in what’s normally a super calm bay. The trees are falling. The coconut trees are flying everywhere.”
Guam’s Emergency Emergency Management Plan: The Typhoon-Induced Storm Defeated the Twin Cities in Washington, D.C.
Swaddell, 33, grew up in Guam and now works in Washington, D.C. She is on her way to her house just in time for the storm to hit.
It brought 140mph winds and forecasts of a 25-foot storm surge, knocking out power throughout the island. The U.S. island territory has not seen the strongest typhoon in a long time.
I was a child when I was in middle school. So I didn’t know the level of responsibility and fear that an adult would have preparing for a typhoon, because my mom took care of all of that … My mom kept me safe,” she said.
Guam is still under flash flood warnings, so a full assessment of the damage will take more time. But Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero told Morning Edition that she knows of at least one rescue mission in which eight people were taken to a shelter.
“There are a lot of uncertainties surrounding what the future will look like for Guam,” said Shelton.
Shelton braced for the storm while staying in the northern part of the island. In voice memos to NPR, she said she was thankful that President Joe Biden signed off on the island’s state of emergency request so quickly – the island has both local and federal emergency responders ready.
“We do have folks here on the ground ready to respond as soon as they are needed, as soon as it is safe for us to go out after the storm passes,” Shelton said.
“I think that’s one positive thing to look at throughout the next several hours,” she said, before the storm hit. “We’re together, and we’re able to pray together and wait out the storm together and help in any way that we can.”
While waiting out the storm, the hotel Swaddell was staying at moved guests to a ballroom farther from any windows. As the wind thrashed the outside of the building, guests inside shared a meal.
The Guam Typhoon-Mawar Disaster and the Status of the Island’s Emergency Management Agency (GAMA). Associated Press, FEMA, and The New York Times
That process might not start until the sun rises. Forecasters tell the AP and the New York Times that storm conditions are expected to linger in Guam until Thursday morning local time.
“If anything, I think that we get more support quickly because of our isolated area, because we don’t have the help of, say, other states bringing other resources to us,” she adds.
Guerrero says she’s grateful to Biden and FEMA for their help, and agrees that Guam’s status doesn’t change anything when it comes to relief. She says the agency’s response is similar to how it would be in a hurricanes’ Category 5 storm.
Forecasters had been warning that anyone who didn’t shelter in a reinforced concrete structure risked serious injury or death, she added. (Building codes have required all homes be made of concrete since 2002, the Associated Press notes.) The people of Guam take these precautions seriously.
The storm clipped northern Guam and is moving away from the island as of Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Its maximum sustained winds remain at 140 mph and are expected to grow as it slowly makes its way northwest.
Forecasters had warned of a “triple threat” with powerful winds, torrential rain and “life-threatening storm surge,” and said it could be the strongest storm to hit the island in 60 years.
Guerrero said she will have her first damage assessment as soon as the winds start tapering down, but already knows of damage to houses and at least one rescue mission in which eight people were taken to a shelter.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177847305/guam-typhoon-mawar-damage-fema-relief
Guam is in the dark, but it’s not like Florida, or Florida, so we’re in the outskirts of Guam
What’s clear is that most of the island is in the dark. The Guam Power Authority said that almost all of its circuits were without power and that the island-wide system was only able to serve about 1,000 of its 52,000 customers.
Williams told Morning Edition on Wednesday that the island — which covers an area of some 210 square miles — was seeing heavy rain, coastal flooding, high seas, downed trees and internet outages.
“This is not like Florida, where you can drive inland 10 miles, or even drive to Georgia,” she explained. “I mean, the flights shut down yesterday. We’re here. we’ve got to follow directions, and stay in our homes and go to places with shelter and get away from the water and stay off the roads. Most people do that.
Military ships were sent away from Guam as a precautionary measure, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was given the go-ahead to respond to the disaster.
FEMA Associate Administrator Anne Bink told NPR’s All Things Considered on Tuesday that the agency had already pre-staged over 100 staff members — including medical professionals and power restoration experts — as well as relief supplies, with more than a million liters of water and 700,000 meals ready at a distribution center in Guam.