According to the latest storm news from the US National Weather Service (NWS), the western eye of Super Typhoon Ba Vi is moving through Rota Island.
The latest forecast intensity is 290 km/h when super typhoon Ba Vi sweeps through Rota Island. Strong winds exceeding 250 km/h will continue to sweep Rota Island throughout the process of becoming the eye of super typhoon Ba Vi passing through.
The latest super typhoon in the 2026 typhoon season in the Pacific also brought extremely strong winds and heavy rain to other areas of the Northern Mariana Islands and nearby Guam territory.
This area with about 210,000 people was once devastated by Super Typhoon Sinlaku in April, causing widespread damage, roofs blown off, trees knocked down and tens of thousands of people lost power.
In 2023, another major storm - Mawar, the biggest storm in decades - caused heavy damage in the area.
Previously, NWS warned that the landfall of Typhoon Ba Vi on Rota would make most of the island "uninhabitable for weeks, even longer. Many houses not built of concrete, without reinforcement will be destroyed, roofs will be completely collapsed and walls will collapse".
The small island of Rota, located at the southernmost point of the Northern Mariana Islands, is home to about 1,500 people.
As early as the afternoon of July 5, there were very few vehicles on the streets of Guam and Northern Mariana, most stores were closed, and many windows were paneled.
