Typhoon Champi Bears Down on Guam as Islands Brace for an Overnight Battering
A typhoon watch covers Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan as the storm closes in with forecasts of up to 10 inches of rain and damaging winds expected to arrive by Sunday.
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are bracing for a direct hit from Typhoon Champi, with forecasters warning of damaging winds and torrential rain expected to slam the US territories late Saturday night into Sunday local time.
A Typhoon Watch and a Flood Watch remain in effect for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan, according to a FEMA national situation report, which placed the storm roughly 800 miles east-southeast of Guam as it tracked west-northwest with the potential for rapid intensification heading into the weekend. Forecasters project 5 to 10 inches of rainfall across the islands, with locally higher totals possible in mountainous terrain.
The National Weather Service office in Guam has warned that tropical-storm-force winds are most likely to arrive late Saturday evening, with the worst conditions persisting into Sunday. Residents across the Marianas have been told to secure loose debris, stock up on supplies and prepare for possible power outages and water-service disruptions, which have accompanied past storms to hit the remote chain.
Uncertain Path Beyond Guam
Once it clears the Marianas, Champi's future track remains murky. Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, cited by the Taipei Times, said the most likely scenario has the storm curving north after brushing the Ryukyu Islands — though a shift in a nearby Pacific high-pressure system could still send it toward Taiwan or Japan instead.
Local outlets in the Marianas, including the Saipan Tribune, reported the storm was also expected to pass close to Anatahan, a largely uninhabited island north of Saipan, as it churns through the chain.
FORECASTERS SAY TROPICAL-STORM-FORCE WINDS ARE MOST LIKELY TO ARRIVE LATE SATURDAY NIGHT.
It's the second time this month a tropical system has tested US weather infrastructure on opposite sides of the Pacific — Tropical Storm Rachel soaked Southern California with a rare tropical-storm watch earlier in October. For now, Guam's roughly 150,000 residents are hunkering down, with emergency officials urging anyone in flood-prone or coastal areas to finish preparations before nightfall and avoid unnecessary travel once the winds pick up.