Residents take shelter as major typhoon in Pacific nears remote US islands

High winds during the super typhoon on the island of Saipan (Glen Hunter via AP)

A major typhoon was approaching several remote US islands in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, with people seeking shelter amid a combination of heavy rain, wind and flooding.

“It’s hitting us hard,” said mayor Ramon Jose Blas Camacho of Saipan, where it was night-time.

He told the Associated Press: “It’s so difficult for us to respond with this heavy rain, heavy wind to rescue people. Objects are just flying left and right.”

Mr Camacho said some people have been rescued. He said trees were thrown about and wooden and tin structures had collapsed.

Saipan is the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, where Super Typhoon Sinlaku was slowly approaching at about 3mph. Conditions were expected to worsen overnight, the National Weather Service said.

The super typhoon in the Pacific Ocean (NOAA via AP)

The typhoon had reached wind speeds of 150mph, according to the navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Centre in Guam. It said a landfall near Tinian, about six miles from Saipan, or the small uninhabited island of Aguijan, is “imminent”.

Mr Camacho was concerned about the slow speed of the storm.

“That’s the scary part,” he said. “It’s better to speed up so it can just exit.”

Farther south, in Guam, a US territory with several American military installations and about 170,000 residents, “torrential rainfall is occurring and flash flooding is ongoing”, the weather service said. “We ask that everyone remain indoors and away from windows.”

In Saipan and Tinian, flash flooding was expected to continue into Wednesday. About 50,000 people live on three islands in the area, with the most on Saipan, known for its laid-back resorts.

While it is expected to weaken slightly over the next few days, Sinlaku should cross by the islands as a category 4 or 5 typhoon.

Flash Flood Warning continues for Saipan MP and Tinian MP until 1:00 AM ChST pic.twitter.com/lATzK2DEoJ

— NWS Guam 🇬🇺 (@NWSGuam) April 14, 2026

The typhoon has stayed mostly on a track that puts it going over or just skirting along Tinian and Saipan, said Joshua Schank, a lead meteorologist in Guam for the weather service.

Saipan was the site of one of the Second World War’s bloodiest battles in the Pacific, in which more than 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers and local civilians died.

In Guam, where Typhoon Mawar knocked out power for days in 2023, US military officials warned personnel to prepare for the storm and shelter in place. The military controls about a third of the land on the island, a critical hub for US forces in the Pacific.

Before turning towards Guam and the Northern Marianas, the storm left significant damage to the outer islands and atolls of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the weather service on Guam.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday approved emergency disaster declarations for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, allowing for additional help with emergency services.

A super typhoon is a name given to the strongest tropical cyclones that brew in the north-western Pacific Ocean, where Earth’s most intense storms usually form.