Typhoon Mawar – live: Guam hammered by Category 4 storm killing power with hurricane winds up to 150mph

Super Typhoon Mawar has barrelled into Guam, hammering the US territory with hurricane-strength winds of up to 150mph and plunging residents into darkness.

The typhoon made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm at around 9pm local time on Wednesday night, bringing with it heavy rains and a dangerous storm surge, the National Weather Service said.

Many homes and businesses were left completely without power and water as residents hunkered down inside houses and shelters.

The typhoon marks the strongest storm to hit the US territory in decades.

Ahead of the typhoon striking Guam, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Guam on Monday.

The declaration authorises FEMA to coordinate all federal disaster relief efforts to “alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe territory wide”.

The US military – which operates a base on the territory – also sent away ships.

Key Points

• 'Too dangerous to be outside': Typhoon Mawar closes in on Guam as residents shelter

• Typhoon Mawar could be the most powerful storm to hit Guam in recent decades

• Biden announces emergency ahead of Typhoon Mawar

• Mawar weakens to category 4 but still forecast to wreak havoc

• Photos: Heavy winds, uprooted trees and residents heading for shelters as Guam inches closer

Super Typhoon Mawar has barrelled into Guam

12:45 , Rachel Sharp

Super Typhoon Mawar has barrelled into Guam, hammering the US territory with hurricane-strength winds of up to 150mph and plunging residents into darkness.

The typhoon made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm at around 9pm local time on Wednesday night, bringing with it heavy rains and a dangerous storm surge, the National Weather Service said.

Many homes and businesses were left completely without power and water as residents hunkered down inside houses and shelters.

The typhoon marks the strongest storm to hit the US territory in decades.

Typhoon Mawar brings lightning and heavy gusts as it passes close to Guam

12:30 , Stuti Mishra

Video by cyclone interceptor James Reynolds shows lightning and havy gusts of wind as Typhoon Mawar passes close to Guam’s northern edge.

The heavy wind and rains have been lashing the US island territory all day, uprooting trees and blowing roofs as residents hunkered down in shelters.

Mawar was projected to pass 11 kilometres northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, close to the village of Yigo on the northern edge of Guam, between 6 and 8 pm.

Typhoon Mawar to reach Philippines on Friday

11:45 , Stuti Mishra

As Guam residents hunker down and prepare for the arrival of Typhoon Mawar, another country – the Philippines – may soon have to bear the impact of the cyclone.

The typhoon is expected to reach the Philippines Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Friday evening or Saturday morning, according to Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

It would be given the local name Betty once inside PAR.The agency recorded Mawar 2,305 kilometres east of the Visayas island of the Philippines, moving north northwest at 10 kilometres per hour this morning.

While the chances of landfall in the Philippines appear slim, according to PAGASA, Rappler reported the agency saying that Mawar’s rainbands could still have some impact on Cagayan Valley in the north of Manila.

Footage from space shows terrifying view of Typhoon Mawar

11:00 , Stuti Mishra

Video footage captured from International Space Station, posted by Space Portal, shows Typhoon Mawar inching close to Guam in the afternoon.

Another footage shared by Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) shows the heavy intensity of the typhoon.

Mawar weakens to category 4 but still forecast to wreak havoc

10:30 , Stuti Mishra

Typhoon Mawar is yet to make landfall in Guam as of mid-afternoon. It was forecast to hit as a “super typhoon” of category 5, the worst the island had seen in decades.

However, the cyclone had weakened from category 5 strength to category 4, with maximum sustained winds were at about 225 kph.

Brandon Bukunt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Guam told the New York Times its southern eyewall was still offshore, but had the potential to bring even stronger winds to the island, along with torrential rains.

In Pictures: Heavy winds, uprooted trees and residents heading for shelters as Guam intensifies

10:00 , Stuti Mishra

Guam's slow onset worries residents

09:30 , Stuti Mishra

Residents are worrying that the slow movement of Typhoon Mawar, as forecast by weather services, means more rain will end up lashing the island.

Joshua Paulino, a client manager at Xerox Guam, who is sheltering at home in the central village of Chalan Pago with his wife, two sons and mother, told the Associated Press he has closed the shutters and secured outdoor objects.

He expressed concern that the storm could dump rain on the island for a long time, since it was forecast to pass by gradually.

“This storm is moving very slowly so that is making me really uneasy,” Mr Paulino told AP by text message.

Typhoon Mawar poses 'triple threat', warns Guam weather service

09:00 , Stuti Mishra

Guam’s weather service has warned of “considerable damage” from a “triple threat” of winds as Typhoon Mawar inches closer.

It said the typhoon is prompting torrential rains, apart from posing a threat of a life-threatening storm surge of 4 to 6 feet with dangerous surf of 20 to 30 feet.

If Guam doesn’t take a direct hit, it will be very close, said Patrick Doll, the lead weather service meteorologist in Guam.

Mawar is a Malaysian word that means “rose,” he noted.

The storm was moving at 10 kph but had an eye 27 kilometres wide, meaning people at the typhoon’s centre could see calm conditions for over three hours and conclude, far too soon, that the worst is over, Mr Doll said.

As the eye leaves, the winds could rise to 241 kph in minutes, so people should remain sheltered until the government gives the all-clear

.“Folks may say, ‘Hey it’s over, we could go outside and start cleaning up,”’ Mr Doll said. “That is totally wrong.

Videos show heavy wind in Guam

08:30 , Stuti Mishra

Photos and videos posted by residents and meteorologists show heavy gusts of wind in Guam as Typhoon Mawar inches close.

“Wind starting to pick up significantly, strong gusts thrashing the palm trees in Tumon Bay,” wrote James Reynolds, a tropical cyclone interceptor, sharing videos of palm trees amid winds.

“It’s going to be really, really rough,” he said in another video with heavy winds.

“The wind is so bad on Guam right now that it’s difficult to even hold the camera!” wrote a resident.

Other residents have also shared similar videos with audible turbulence.

Biden announces emergency ahead of Typhoon Mawar

08:00 , Stuti Mishra

Joe Biden today approved an emergency declaration as Typhoon Mawar grew to a Category 4 storm.

The US president sent back military ships and asked people with wood and tin homes to seek shelter elsewhere.

Federal assistance will be needed to save lives and property and “mitigate the effects of this imminent catastrophe,” Guam’s governor Lou Leon Guerrero said in a letter to the president requesting a “pre-landfall emergency” for the island.

Guam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the department of defence controls about a third of the island.

Typhoon Mawar could be the most powerful storm to hit Guam in recent decades

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

Typhoon Mawar could be the most powerful storm to hit the US Pacific territory in decades, according to meteorologists.

It has been described as “one that will be remembered for decades”, said Landon Aydlett, the warning coordination meteorologist from the weather service in Guam.

Mawar is forecast to arrive as a Category 4 storm with winds of around 225 kph but could possibly strengthen to a Category 5, the most powerful.

The last time a Category 5 made a direct hit on Guam was 1962.

'Too dangerous to be outside': Typhoon Mawar closes in on Guam as residents shelter

07:03 , Stuti Mishra

Residents stockpiled supplies, battened down windows and abandoned wood and tin homes for emergency shelters as Guam was buffeted by rains and winds today from Typhoon Mawar, the strongest storm to approach the US Pacific territory in decades.

“Stay inside. Trees are coming down; power lines are coming down,” said Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the service.

“Everything is changing — it is too dangerous to be outside.”

Many communities on the 549-square-kilometre island had lost power by Tuesday afternoon local time and some to the south had lost water service.

Ahead of the storm, Guam’s governor Lou Leon Guerrero ordered residents of coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas of the territory of over 150,000 people to evacuate to higher elevations.

Read more about the evacuation here.

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

Welcome to The Independent’s live blog on intensifying Typhoon Mawar heading toward Guam today. Stay tuned for the latest updates.