'Like a Small War Just Passed Through': Super Typhoon Yutu Leaves US Islands in Pacific 'Mangled'

As climate experts around the world warn how anthropogenic global warming will continue to make extreme weather worse, the “catastrophic” Super Typhoon Yutu has left the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean, “mangled,” as one local official described the devastation.

“There’s a lot of damage and destruction. It’s like a small war just passed through.”
—Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan

The powerful storm struck overnight, with the eye of the storm passing over the island Tinian around 2 a.m. local time on Thursday, and brought with it 20-foot waves and 180mph winds—meaning the typhoon was comparable to a Category 5 hurricane. At least one person was killed.

“Tinian has been devastated by Typhoon Yutu,” Mayor Joey P. San Nicolas told USA Today. “The homes, main roads have been destroyed. Our critical infrastructure has been compromised. We currently have no power and water. Our ports at this time are inaccessible and several points within the island are inaccessible.”

San Nicolas added that the island’s “power distribution system is completely destroyed.”

“There’s a lot of damage and destruction,” said Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the commonwealth’s non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress. “It’s like a small war just passed through.”

Gov. Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres has requested immediate humanitarian aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, in the form of “food, water, cots, toilet kits, tarps, and temporary shelter resources,” according to a statement from the governor’s office that Sablan posted to Facebook.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California, in a tweet, called on Congress to ensure that the agency provides adequate relief to the islands—especially given that FEMA, and the Trump administration more broadly, failed to do so after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico last year.