The super typhoon in the Pacific Ocean that hammered the Northern Mariana Islands flipped over cars, toppled utility poles and ripped away tin roofs. So far, there have been no reports of deaths. Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which first hit the islands Tuesday night local […]
U.S.
Typhoon flipped over cars and ripped away roofs on US islands in the Pacific Ocean
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The super typhoon in the Pacific Ocean that hammered the Northern Mariana Islands flipped over cars, toppled utility poles and ripped away tin roofs. So far, there have been no reports of deaths.
Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which first hit the islands Tuesday night local time and continued with a barrage of fierce winds and relentless rains for hours Wednesday.
Power was out and many of the roads were impassible across Saipan, a U.S. territory that’s the largest of the Mariana Islands and home to about 43,000 people, according to local officials.
The storm also battered Guam, another U.S. territory and the site of several American military bases, with tropical force winds.
The typhoon — the strongest tropical cyclone on Earth this year — was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph (240 kph) when it made landfall on the islands, the National Weather Service said.
The monster storm still had winds of 125 mph (200 kph) late Wednesday night as it pulled away to the north from the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, the weather service said. Sinlaku is expected start curving toward sparsely populated volcanic islands in the far northern Marianas.
It was still very windy and rainy roughly 24 hours after the typhoon rattled the islands, but much better than the previous night, said Jaden Sanchez, spokesperson for the Saipan mayor’s office.
Preliminary reports include a lot of flooding, uprooted trees and downed power lines, but no deaths, he said.
Images from Saipan showed residential lots littered with debris and mangled trees. Winds crumbled metal bleachers at a sports field.
Resident Dong Min Lee shot video of a car sitting on top of two others in his apartment building’s parking lot. The winds tore off part of his balcony railing.
The American Red Cross and its partners were sheltering more than 1,000 residents across Guam and the Northern Marianas, agency spokesperson Stephanie Fox said.
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Associated Press writers Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed to this report.