The typhoon, Mawar, brought intense flooding and intense winds, which reached up to 140 mile-per-hour speeds. The typhoon was equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane when it hit Guam. The typhoon knocked out the power across much of Guam, and it caused 1.2 million people to evacuate.

Image Source : https://www.fox13news.com/weather/typhoon-mawar-barrels-towards-us-territory-guam

The Guam Power Authority stated in an update that 40 percent of the customer’s electricity has been restored, while the Guam Waterworks Authority stated that about half of the wells that supply the island’s water were functioning. 

From the devastating effects of Typhoon Mawar, President Biden allowed residents to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Despite the efforts to reduce the harm of the typhoon and recover from the damage, Jesse Alig, the mayor of the village of Piti and the president of the Mayor’s Council of Guam, criticized the island’s protocols for being slow and insufficient. 

Guam is a territory where typhoons often hit, which made the mayor more disappointed in the current recovery process.. In an early assessment after the Mawar hit, government officials estimated a loss of $112 million mostly from infrastructure damage. No deaths were reported since the tropical storm, and 22 babies were born, and the island’s major medical center, Guam Memorial Hospital, had to rely on generators for power to be supplied. Still, the hospital is waiting for full access to the water system.

References : Moyer, J., & Fortin, J. (2023, June 2). Many in Guam lack power and water a week after Typhoon Mawar. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/us/guam-typhoon-mawar.html