Follow-Up: Typhoon Champi Intensifies to Category 4 With 130 mph Winds, Expected to Pass South of Guam Early Sunday at About 150 mph
Typhoon Champi rapidly intensified into a Category 4 typhoon on Saturday, October 17, according to Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) data cited by Guam media. The JTWC said Champi currently has maximum sustained winds of about 130 mph with gusts to 161 mph and is continuing a period of rapid intensification. As of 4 p.m. Guam time on Saturday, the center was located near 12.5 degrees north latitude and 147.3 degrees east longitude, about 140 miles east-southeast of Guam, heading west-northwest at about 15 mph.
Champi is expected to pass just south of Guam between 4 and 5 a.m. Sunday, Guam time, with winds of about 150 mph — a marked upgrade from the roughly 85 mph sustained winds and forecast peak of 105 to 120 mph reported earlier Saturday. A typhoon warning issued by the National Weather Service office in Guam remains in effect, along with a flash flood warning until 3:30 a.m. Sunday Guam time and a coastal flood warning into early Monday.
Guam has been in Condition of Readiness 1, its highest readiness level, since 1 p.m. Saturday. Emergency officials said residents in coastal and flood-prone areas should evacuate to safe shelter, that all residents should be inside a sturdy, concrete-reinforced structure before sunset on Saturday, and that no one should go outside until the readiness condition is lowered, even if conditions temporarily appear calm. Local media reported gusts above 42 mph had already been recorded at Guam's international airport by Saturday evening, with damaging winds expected to develop overnight.
Earlier, Guam's governor placed the island in COR 1 and the U.S. Coast Guard closed ports in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Saturday morning. Rainfall of 6 to 12 inches is forecast, with breaking surf of 20 to 25 feet around Rota. A typhoon warning covers Guam and Rota, while Tinian and Saipan are under a tropical storm warning.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：关岛哈加特纳一带海岸与礁湖，远处为杜梦湾。yuki5287 摄，CC BY 2.0，Wikimedia Commons。
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