The island of Rota in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands has been left battered and struggling to recover after it took a direct hit from Super Typhoon Bavi early in July.
The super typhoon reached category 5 intensity and pummeled the island with winds of up to 180 miles an hour.
Rota residents have already begun responding to the damage with emergency recovery efforts. Thomas Mangloña II is a journalist with the Marianas Press. Originally based in Rota, he was able to fly from Saipan to take in a firsthand account of the destruction on his home island.
He spoke with HPR to share what he witnessed and to deliver updates on the island’s efforts to rebuild.
Interview Highlights
On the immediate aftermath of Super Typhoon Bavi
THOMAS MANGLOÑA II: Right now, the situation is dire on Rota for drinking water. Thankfully, they did repair a main water pipeline break yesterday. The U.S. military was able to go in and restore water to most homes, if not all, at this point in time. As you know, we were hit by Super Typhoon Sinlaku just three months ago. Rota sustained some damage, but most of that damage from the super typhoon was to Saipan and Tinian. This time around, Rota was a direct hit from Super Typhoon Bavi, getting winds of up to 180 miles per hour. It's a devastating situation on the ground … this is one of the worst storms to hit Rota in recent memory.
On the damage to Rota’s infrastructure
MANGLOÑA II: Some people who were just connected three days ago, we're up to two weeks ago now, don't have power again because of Bavi, and so our infrastructure is hard hit. Even on the island of Tinian, they're talking about having to replace the entire power plant. … Rota in particular, it's an island, per the last census, populated by 1,700 people. It's probably less than that now, since people have left, but they also don't have a lot of the infrastructure that Saipan has, in terms of hotel rooms or houses for federal officials to come in. … Even the grocery stores have limited inventory items. There are several organizations that might want to donate money directly to give out grocery vouchers, for example, but also want to not empty the shelves, right? They want to figure out how to do it in a sustainable way as well. So, very difficult, long road ahead, but the region is coming together.
On how to rebuild sustainably
MANGLOÑA II: The big question I think everyone is asking now is, how do we create a sustainable infrastructure? A sustainable way of life? Because we saw in this recent typhoon, we were still recovering, and we all had to jump into preparation mode. I mean, how do you prepare when your roof is gone? How do you prepare? It's an impossible question. And so I think many people are also asking, how can the federal government assist people to not just put temporary roofs on their homes, but to help build back better, truly, that will sustain the next super typhoon? And so, yes, we are focused on the immediate needs now. We need water, we need shelter, we need power, but also we need a solution for the long term. … I don't know how families will bounce back, I don't know how we'll get our tourism economy back. There needs to be a major paradigm shift in the weeks to come.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 9, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
