Government officials on Guam have just started to assess the damage from Typhoon Mawar. The wind and rain have subsided enough for crews to see what the storm left in its path. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
"There's a lot of vegetative debris all over the road. And in fact, it's blocking a number of roads. I drove as far as I could south yesterday and had to turn around because my compact car couldn't go through some of the deep water," said Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 9 spokesperson Robert Barker.
"I saw a lot of public works folks out there. They were clearing the roads, cutting the trees, clearing the debris. So I sense today it's gonna be a lot better than what it was yesterday," he said on Thursday in Guam.
There were 725 people in shelters Friday, down from nearly 1,000 on Thursday, according to FEMA.
Barker arrived there on Monday night to help coordinate response efforts.
"We have more than 150 FEMA staff deployed or pre-staged in the Pacific and able to quickly support the territory on local response efforts. We also have 320 personnel supporting across the country. Most of those are based in our D.C. headquarters."
With the exception of humanitarian and cargo flights, there are no flights operating at this time.
The Associated Press reports the Navy has ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group to head to the island to assist in the recovery effort.
This interview aired on The Conversation on May 25, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
