Super Typhoon Champi becomes the third typhoon to affect Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in six months

Super Typhoon Champi passed within 12 miles of the southern tip of Guam on October 18, 2026, bringing destructive winds, flooding, and power outages to Guam and all three main islands of the Northern Mariana Islands. Both territories received Presidential Emergency Declarations ahead of the storm.

Champi is the third major storm to strike the two territories since April. Super Typhoon Sinlaku made landfall on Saipan on April 14, killing six people in the Northern Mariana Islands and two in Guam and causing more than $1 billion in damage to the CNMI alone. Super Typhoon Bavi struck Rota on July 6—the strongest storm in the island’s recorded history—less than three months later.

The compounding effect of the storms is visible in Champi’s aftermath. As many as 170 wells across the CNMI were not operating after the storm, and the Red Cross noted that some water systems on the islands had not been restored since Sinlaku struck in April. During the storm, nearly 100 Red Cross disaster responders operated or supported 15 shelters across Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, where more than 1,000 people took refuge.

President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for both Guam and the CNMI, at the requests of Governor Lou Leon Guerrero (D) and Governor David M. Apatang, respectively. FEMA said assistance for both territories became available on October 16, before Champi’s closest approach. Additional federal designations may follow pending damage assessments.

AccuWeather rated Champi a Category 4 equivalent at the time of its closest approach to Guam. The storm’s center narrowly stayed offshore, sparing the island a direct hit, but homes were damaged, and trees were knocked down across the southern region. On the CNMI, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota all experienced damaging winds and heavy seas from the storm’s outer bands.

Champi has since moved west-northwest over the Philippine Sea and is expected to bring severe impacts to Taiwan later this week.

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands sit in one of the most active typhoon corridors in the world, especially as a historically strong El Niño climate event is underway in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Both territories rely on federal disaster assistance for recovery, but face structural gaps in how federal programs apply. The CNMI does not have full access to Medicaid, and disaster recovery timelines in the territories have historically lagged those in the states.