Typhoon Soudelor slams into Northern Mariana Islands causing widespread damage

Even if Soudelor begins to weaken prior to reaching Taiwan and China, it is still expected to be a significant typhoon during this time, so residents from Shanghai to Taipei should already being making initial preparations for the storm.

Our CNMI correspondent Mark Rabago is on Saipan and says the power is still out for most of the island.

Citing satellite estimates from the Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), The Weather Channel said Soudelor ” has become the strongest tropical cyclone seen anywhere on Earth so far in 2015″. At the end of the 5-day JTWC forecast on Wednesday July 5, Soudelor is expected to continue tracking northwest towards the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, while maintaining Category 4 strength.

The super typhoon’s trail of destruction can be seen in the above video, at what appears to be a resort on Saipan Island – the largest and most-populated of the Northern Marianas Islands.

Almost 400 people were packed in emergency shelters in the Northern Marianas after the powerful storm ripped roofs off houses and left residents without power, water and wastewater services.

The Pacific Daily News in Guam reports Saipan acting governor declared “a state of disaster and significant emergency”.

As said by the JTWC, Super Typhoon Soudelor is likely to track steadily northwestward, reaching Taiwan on August 7, and coastal China by August 8.

In Hagatna, on neighbouring Guam, the weather service warned boats to stay away from exposed reefs and beaches because of “hazardous surf” and “life threatening” rip currents. At this rate it would hit Taiwan by Thursday and then China by Friday.

Last month, Cyclone Raquel – the earliest ever recorded in the eastern Australian zone – and a series of typhoons and tropical lows boosted the El Nino by providing westward wind bursts along the Equator.

Soudelor is named after a famous chief in Micronesia.