Pinoy community leader in Guam on Mawar: 'It was really bad'

A Filipino community leader in Guam shared his family's experience with Supertyphoon Mawar's onslaught, which he described as "horrific and devastating."

"What we’ve seen so far is much damage, power out throughout the island over 18 hours now. Water is out in some areas and no pressure in other areas. We’ve had a lot of flooding, landslides, a lot of damage throughout the island,” said Patrick Luces, President of the Filipino Community of Guam.

“Supertyphoon Mawar has passed. It has made its way away from Guam but at this time we’re still receiving scattered rain showers and periodic gusts of wind. It’s still very dangerous outside,” Luces told BaliTanghali on Thursday.

Mawar was the strongest typhoon to batter Guam in years, according to a Reuters report. The Category 4 storm unleashed winds of up to 150 mph (240 kph) and dumped torrential rains over the US territory but no major damage was reported on the island.

“My family we had blackouts and water coming in throughout the windows despite the window shutters. It was coming in from three sides of the house. It was really bad, and there was flooding indoors,” he said.

“I did have to tie one of my doors because the pressure was so strong. That was our experience here with our young kids in the house,” he added.

Another Filipino living in Guam likewise recalled her experience during the typhoon.

“Habang nasa loob kami ng bahay, parang ang rumaragasang...alam mo ‘yung train ang dumadaan sa bubong mo, ‘yung parang inaalog ka dumadaan ‘yung train,” said  Gina Tabonares Reilly in Ivan Mayrina and Cedric Castillo’s report on “24 Oras”.

(While we were inside the house, we felt like a train was passing by our roof. It was shaking heavily.)

No Filipino nationals were reported hurt by the massive typhoon, Luces said. He also advised Filipinos in the Philippines to take precautions, citing the dangers of Mawar.

“This typhoon is so dangerous that it was very life-threatening. Take the warnings now, take shelter. If you are in a thin shelter, look for concrete shelter if you can,” he added.

The Philippines, meanwhile, is already preparing for the possible impact of Mawar which is expected to maintain its supertyphoon category upon its entry inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) by Friday or Saturday.

State weather bureau PAGASA said it will be called "Betty" once it enters PAR.

At 10 a.m., PAGASA said Mawar was located at 2,065 kilometers east of Southeastern Luzon. It has maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour near the center, gustiness of up to 230 km/h.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said preemptive evacuations are expected to be imposed in the coastal towns of Batanes and some parts of Cagayan as Mawar gets closer to the country.

“Nag-preposition po tayo ng mga relief items na pwedeng ibigay ganun din po iyong mga clearing equipment kung kailangan. Nandiyan naman po ang ating mga kawani sa AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), sa iba pa pong may air assets na pwedeng magdala po ng mga tulong dito po sa mga isolated areas,” said OCD Joint Information Center Head Diego Mariano.

(Relief items are already prepositioned as well as the needed clearing equipment. Our AFP members are also there, in other areas there are already air assets that can deliver help in isolated areas.)

Several other government offices have started preparations for the super typhoon, including the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it has prepared assets for rescue operations and identified critical areas for the possible impact of Mawar in Metro Manila. —Sundy Locus/ VAL, GMA Integrated News