A powerful super typhoon is closing in on two U.S. territories in the Pacific. Super Typhoon Bavi has grown into a Category 5 storm and is expected to pass dangerously close to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands early next week, and officials there are racing to get people to safety.
A rapidly intensifying storm
Bavi strengthened into a Category 5 typhoon on Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of about 165 miles per hour, Yale Climate Connections reported. It is the third Category 5 tropical cyclone anywhere on Earth so far in 2026, and it intensified with startling speed, gaining strength far faster than the threshold forecasters use to define rapid intensification.
The U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects the storm to go through an eyewall replacement cycle, a process that can briefly weaken a typhoon before it reorganizes and, in some cases, grows stronger. Forecasters cautioned that Bavi could restrengthen as it nears the islands, and warned that the track and intensity could still shift.
On a path toward the Marianas
The current forecast brings Bavi very near Rota before it moves between Guam and Saipan on Monday morning, Hawaii News Now reported. Typhoon warnings are up for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan, with forecasters warning of destructive winds, life-threatening coastal flooding, widespread flash flooding and the potential for catastrophic damage.
The threat is especially cruel for the Northern Mariana Islands, which are still recovering from Super Typhoon Sinlaku roughly three months ago, a storm blamed for an estimated $1.5 billion in damage across the region.
Emergency declarations and shelters
Officials moved early. Guam's governor, Lourdes Leon Guerrero, declared a state of emergency and placed the island in Condition of Readiness 3, and a flood watch was issued, according to Guam's Office of Civil Defense. In the Northern Marianas, emergency shelters on Saipan and Tinian opened Thursday, earlier than usual, to give families more time to prepare and evacuate.
President Trump signed a federal emergency declaration for the territories, allowing the government to move personnel and supplies into position before the storm arrives, Hawaii News Now reported.
What comes next
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands sit in one of the most typhoon-prone corners of the planet, and their residents are practiced at riding out big storms. A Category 5 remains a severe test even so, and the greatest dangers, the winds and the water, are still a day or more away as of this writing.
Forecasts for a storm this intense can change hour to hour. For now, the message from officials across the islands is the same: finish preparations, know where the nearest shelter is and be ready well before Bavi arrives.
