A powerful storm named Super Typhoon Champi was expected to pass near Guam on Saturday, bringing powerful winds that the National Weather Service called “extremely dangerous” and “life-threatening.”
Super Typhoon Champi intensified from a tropical storm to the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in less than two days, as it barreled northwest across the Pacific Ocean.
“A period of rapid intensification was expected but this outperformed what was expected,” said Paul Stanko, a meteorologist with the Weather Service office on Guam.
Champi is likely to get within 10 to 20 miles of Guam, traveling past the island around 6 a.m. local time as a Category 4 storm, with winds exceeding 130 miles per hour. Guam, which has a population of more than 153,000 people, and the nearby island of Rota, with a population of about 1,800, were under warning.
Winds were picking up early Saturday and were expected to grow stronger. A sustained force of 110 to 135 m.p.h. and isolated gusts up to 175 m.p.h. were likely.
The strongest winds are expected on the south portion of the island. The Weather Service issued an extreme wind warning for the area through Sunday morning and said the winds will create a “particularly dangerous situation.”
“Venturing outside can result in death from flying projectiles,” the agency said on Saturday.
Houses on the island that are built with corrugated metal “may just be gone in the winds,” Mr. Stanko said. “Houses built like concrete bunkers, those won’t suffer too much.”
Mr. Stanko said on early Saturday that power outages were already occurring, and the service warned of a possible island-wide outage that could last for days or weeks.
Heavy rainfall possibly over six inches was also forecast for Saturday. The island was under a flash flood warning through Sunday morning.
Winds and rain were also expected in the nearby islands of Tinian and Saipan in the Northern Marianas.
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