Bavi, The Third Category 5 Storm of 2026 Passes Over the Island of Rota and Saipan as National Weather Service Warns of Imminent Danger to Life and at Least 20 Inches of Rain
According to KSAT, Super Typhoon Bavi made landfall on Monday over the island of Rota in the western Pacific near Guam, bringing powerful winds and torrential rain to the Northern Mariana Islands.
The cyclone registered as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds reaching 180 mph and gusts of 215 mph, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Edwin Montvila, who declared it posed an “imminent danger to life.” On Saipan, the international airport recorded wind gusts of more than 100 mph.
Bavi is the third Category 5 tropical cyclone globally in 2026, following Super Typhoon Sinlaku in April which killed 17 people and caused approximately $1.5 billion in damage to the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. Many residents of Saipan and nearby Tinian had been without power since Sinlaku, and the Northern Mariana Islands are still recovering from that storm’s extreme damage.
The National Weather Service said the storm could bring at least 20 inches of rain before passing through the region. Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero urged people to stay home or at a shelter, saying the island was “always ready and prepared.”
Once past the Northern Mariana Islands, Bavi is forecast to track west-northwest toward Taiwan or China by July 10. The Northern Marianas have now endured two Category 4 or 5 typhoons in less than three months. That is not bad luck; it is a pattern that climate science predicted and that residents now live inside.
Check out our previous coverage of climate and extreme weather on The Trusted Times.
