Guam storm warnings canceled and Chuuk’s still recovering

Saipan and Tinian are finally in the clear now! 

Editor’s Note: This last week (April 9-14, 2026) Super Typhoon Sinlaku affected several islands in the FSM, Guam, and CNMI. In Kosraean tradition, Sinlaku was a powerful spirit associated with harvests, life, death, and storms. Sinlaku brought its main storm impacts to Chuuk before moving northwest toward Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. It rapidly intensified into one of the strongest tropical cyclones so far this year. In Chuuk, the storm stalled offshore, creating a prolonged emergency, before moving on toward Guam and the Northern Marianas. On April 14, Sinlaku made landfall on the eastern shores of Tinian and Saipan, with inner-eyewall winds up to 150 mph and a prolonged period of extreme winds. Washington Post reports suggest that the unusually early timing and rapid strengthening reflect very warm western Pacific waters–a warning sign for an active season tied to a developing El Niño. (According to NOAA, warmer ocean waters is connected to stronger tropical cyclones that intensify rapidly.)

Super Typhoon Sinlaku has left the area, although residents are still urged to be cautious and stay in the shelters, according to the U.S. National Weather Service in Tiyan, Guam.

“Typhoon Warning remains in effect for the CNMI as tropical storm force conditions CONTINUE across Rota, Tinian and Saipan,” stated the latest Advisory from the U.S. National Weather center. “Typhoon force conditions are expected or occurring across the far northern Mariana Islands. Conditions across Tinian and Saipan are improving but the damaging winds and strong gusts will persist a while longer as Sinlaku pulls away to the north.

“Sinlaku is moving northwest away at 6 miles-per-hour, maximum sustained winds remain at 125 mph. Typhoon Sinlaku continues to pull away northwestward from Tinian and Saipan and will begin to move through the northern CNMI just west of Alamagan, Pagan, and Agrihan, through the latter half of the week, making a gradual turn toward the north, and then northeast.” 

Some called it “the world strongest storm.” But the duo of Saipan and Tinian knows best what that means, as Sinlaku’s eye just passed over them with a harrowing experience no other island in the Pacific had ever had. 

Videos on social media showed Saipan stripped down to the bare minimum— trees standing without leaves and debris everywhere.

Here is an account, a first-hand experience of the terror from a local resident in its entirety:

SINLAKU’S UNRELENTING ATTACK ON SAIPAN 

This is unprecedented! 

It is now Thursday morning, 4AM, and Super Typhoon Sinlaku has barely moved—creeping forward at a mere 3 to 5 miles per hour since the eye passed directly over Tinian and the southern part of Saipan. The winds have not relented. They roar and surge without pause. Debris still flies. Objects still crash and collide in the darkness. The air itself whistles and howls as if it has forgotten how to be still. Sadly, I have forgotten what silence sounds like.

In all my years, through every storm I have lived through, I have never known a typhoon to linger like this—stretching itself across days, refusing to loosen its grip. We remain in Typhoon Condition One, and it seems we may not feel true calm until much later today, or this evening. It is as though Sinlaku arrived, struck with force, and then simply refused to leave—hovering over Tinian and Saipan with relentless, unforgiving intent.

There can be no real path to recovery until this storm finally releases us. Yesterday morning, around 10AM, I allowed myself to believe the worst had passed. But that was only a pause—a breath before the storm gathered itself again and returned with renewed force.

Inside my home, I walk across damp floors, the air thick with the scent of moisture and the beginnings of mildew. And yet, I cannot bring myself to complain. I have seen, and I know, that so many of you, my friends, kind and loving souls, have lost far more. Some of you have lost everything. That truth weighs heavily on my heart and brings me to tears as I write this. Those who have lost the most must be lifted first. In moments like this, we must center our response on the most vulnerable among us. That is where our strength as a community is measured.

Please know I am doing my best to respond to every message I receive, as many as they are. Though I no longer hold public office, I continue to serve the public, because that calling does not end…it lives in the heart. And my heart remains with all of you. Some messages arrive late or surface long after they were sent. I just responded to one from New Year’s Day that I had somehow missed, along with several others.

As heavy and unrelenting as this moment feels, we must not surrender to despair. We will endure this, just as we have endured before. The storm will pass. And when it does, we will rebuild, together, with the same resilience that has always carried us forward and brought us together. We are in this together.

Praying for you, for your families, and for our islands. Thank you for your kindness, your compassion, and your generosity. You are all a part of my family. I love you, and I am deeply grateful for each of you.

This is from Edwin K. Propst, a resident of Dandan, Saipan.

There were photos on the internet of cars submerged under rain and sea water, trees felled and roads impassable.

“In general, conditions are quickly improving from south to north, with breaks of sunshine possible across Guam today, and maybe Rota. Overall wind conditions are improving across Tinian and Saipan and recovery actions can soon get underway,” stated another U.S. National Advisory. 

Now, the Islands of Chuuk were the first island-group that endured the assault of the typhoon. Then, the CNMI; it grazed Rota and Guam when it became a super typhoon.

Here are tidbit accounts leading up to the onslaught in each of the island groups. 

In Saipan at 9am Monday, Kanis Sinounou reported via Messenger that strong winds had just started picking up.

“It’s gusting up to between 35 and 65 outside, right now,” said Sinounou. “And I heard that when it finally makes landfall, probably tonight, it will be up to 80-120.”

It was in the 145 range winds… for the longest time as it crawled across the islands.

Sinounou confirmed that all children and elderly family members have already moved to a local shelter.

Tuesday came and, Sinounou who had been responsive to Messenger calls prior to the storm, suddenly became quiet. He was not answering his smart phone anymore, probably when the storm was bearing down on them.

In Guam, Barrigada local resident Aggie Umwech said, “It will come closest to us in Guam at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning.”

Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and super typhoon Sinlaku scraped Guam and Rota on its way to batter the rest of CNMI. 

Even at the time of this writing, it’s still beating up on the duo.

Assessment has not begun even for Guam, let alone for the CNMI.

While CNMI and Guam still struggle to get out of the grip of the super typhoon, Chuuk is slowly recovering after the typhoon pounded the islands for three-days.

Local visuals came in via social media of flooding and salt water waves inundating taro patches and other crops. Other reports came in from an individual using the Telecommunication Center in Chuuk. According to Bino Allis, a security guard, it was really scary, and bad.

He said via Messenger in Chuuk: “Tin-roofs, parts of the rooftops of houses, were just flying around in the area. Debris was also flying, plus trees falling, it’s a real mess.” 

In their front yard (Telecommunication Center), he had the grueling job of cleaning up after the typhoon.

The Embassy of the United States in Pohnpei had this to say to Chuuk: We stand “in solidarity with the people of Chuuk following the devastating impact of Typhoon Sinlaku. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and communities affected, and we commend the resilience and strength shown during this challenging time.”

Another resident, Marz Akapito, commented on the young people in their recovery efforts: “Even before the government workers were out, these guys were already working— volunteers, youth and community members.”

A former resident of Pata said: “We are praying for everyone suffering the aftermath of typhoon Sinlaku. My Chuukese friends, my heart bleeds for you!”

Amy Krum now lives in Lomalinda, CA. 

“In traditional Kosraean belief,” said Matt Dodd, another Guam resident, “Sinlaku was revered as the powerful Breadfruit Goddess and Prophet Spirit. She was associated with nature’s forces—bringing or withholding harvests, influencing life and death, and even sending storms.”

“He said, according to oral histories, when Christian missionaries arrived in the 1850s and the people began turning to the true God, Sinlaku wept and departed Kosrae forever, some accounts say fleeing to Yap.

“Sinlaku, the ancient goddess of Kosrae, is none other than Satan in one of his many disguises. And Super Typhoon Sinlaku is yet another example of the enemy using destructive winds to “kill, steal, and destroy” (John 10:10).

“Satan remains the instigator of much suffering on this earth. At times God intervenes and protects His people; at other times, as with Job (Job 1:18-19).

He allows the enemy to carry out his evil schemes for purposes we may not fully understand in the moment.

“Even so, we must not lose heart because of this typhoon—or any disaster or tribulation we face. Satan is permitted to operate for only a little while longer. God remains firmly on His throne, sovereign over every storm, every wind, and every scheme of the enemy.”

We will recover!

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