Typhoon Sinlaku churned slowly past Guam on April 15, 2026, leaving behind power outages, flooding and blocked roads like this one in Dededo. (Ian McKay)
Typhoon Sinlaku pushed past Guam on Wednesday headed for the Northern Mariana Islands packing sustained winds of 125 mph, according to a series of alerts from Guam’s Joint Information Center.
Roads blocked by debris, scattered utility outages and reports of low water pressure were among the immediate issues on Guam, which remained under Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1.
Military installations moved to TCCOR 1-R (recovery) at 4 p.m. but remained closed, except for U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, which stayed open for emergencies.
Sinlaku was about 175 miles north of Naval Base Guam — 85 miles northwest of Saipan — as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, where it was moving northwest at 3 mph with 125 mph sustained winds.
The storm had slowed to a crawl overnight and moved only 25 miles over 14 hours, a speed that prolonged dangerous conditions near the westernmost U.S. territory.
Base schools on the island are closed through the remainder of the week due to “high winds and recovery tasks,” the Department of Defense Education Activity announced Wednesday.
Guam’s power infrastructure weathered the storm without an island-wide blackout, but outages were reported at various villages between Tuesday and Wednesday.
The island ultimately split its unified power system into separate north and south systems to avoid a “total system blackout,” the center said Tuesday afternoon.
The Guam Power Authority had sufficient equipment and crews for repairs, but recovery work was limited due to weather conditions, according to the information center.
Water service remained mostly available, though the Guam Water Authority reported low to no water pressure in seven villages.
The Guam Police Department reported downed trees, flooded areas and traffic light outages.
As Guam organized its recovery efforts, the Northern Mariana Islands — primarily Rota, Saipan and Tinian — braced for Sinlaku’s arrival.
Saipan reported an island-wide power outage at 6:32 a.m. Tuesday, with 15,624 people affected.
Two areas on the island were without water, and the remainder was expected to lose water access once backup generators ran out of fuel, according to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. website.
An island-wide outage on Rota left 967 people without power, but water was still available as of the 3 p.m. Tuesday update.
On Tinian, two power feeders were out Tuesday, affecting numerous areas on the island and an undisclosed number of people. Water was still available.
