Super Typhoon Bavi barrelled into the tiny US territorial island of Guam on Monday morning — making landfall with winds of more than 150 mph and lashing rainfall. The storm also impacted parts of the Northern Mariana Islands as it moved gradually towards the Philippines. The super typhoon struck even as parts of China and Vietnam sounded high alerts due to Typhoon ​Maysak.

“Catastrophic Super Typhoon Bavi’s eyewall has reached Rota and is expected to bring dangerous winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge to Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan. A Typhoon Warning remains in effect. Heavy to excessive rainfall will continue to bring a flooding threat from coastal Mid-Atlantic to southern New England through Monday,” read the latest update from the US National Weather Service.

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the storm is as powerful as a Category 5 hurricane. A cyclone becomes a super typhoon when it has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or stronger— the equivalent of a high-end Category 4 or a Category 5 storm.

Flash floods and ‘extremely dangerous winds’ 

The NWS has sounded multiple flash flood warnings for the region and authorities have urged people to stay home or inside a shelter. An “extreme wind warning” was sounded for Rota island with officials warning about “extremely dangerous hurricane winds”. The NWS Guam handle on X urged people to “treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to an interior room or shelter now”.

Typhoon and flash flood warnings remain in effect for Guam, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm warnings and watches were in place for other islands in the area. The weather service said the storm could bring a total of at least 20 inches of rain by the time it passes through the region.

Weather service meteorologist Edwin Montvila told AP that Bavi was a Category 5 super typhoon with winds that could reach 290 kilometers per hour and gusts of 346 kilometers per hour. He warned that the storm posed an “imminent danger to life”. According to the weather service, the islands may face tropical storm condictions including torrential rain till at least Monday night.

“Entering outside can result in death from flying projectiles. Utility poles and associated power lines will be down,” Montvila reiterated.

Two super typhoons in three months

The Northern Mariana Islands is still recovering from another destructive cyclone that struck in April. Many people living in Saipan and nearby Tinian have remained without power since Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck almost three months ago. Others are still living in tents after their homes were destroyed.

“We’re getting ready to do this all over again. The timing is terrible,” Edwin Propst, a former lawmaker who works in the governor’s office on Saipan, told AP last week.

“This is getting to be the normal thing now, typhoon preparedness…It’s happening more frequently. By this time, people are used to typhoons. They know what they have to do to prepare for them,” added Reverend Francis Hezel, a priest at Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Guam.