HONOLULU (AP) \u2014 Guam\u2019s governor urged residents to stay home and warned the island could take a direct hit from Typhoon Mawar as the storm strengthened on a path toward the U.S. territory in the Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero urged residents in a YouTube message<\/a> to remain calm and prepare for Mawar, which the weather service said could hit the southern part of Guam around midday local time on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe may take a direct hit,\u201d Patrick Doll, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service<\/a> in Tiyan, Guam, told The Associated Press. \u201cIf we don\u2019t take a direct hit, it\u2019s going to be very close.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The center of the Category 3 storm was about 260 miles (420 kilometers) southeast of Guam Tuesday, and moving at 7 mph (11 kph) toward Guam, Doll said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was expected to arrive as a 140 mph (225 kph) Category 4 typhoon, weather officials said, possibly delivering the biggest hit in two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The typhoon could cause \u201cextensive damage,\u201d Doll said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor said she would place Guam essentially in a lockdown effective 1 p.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnless you\u2019re a first responder, you do not leave your house,\u201d Doll said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rain from the storm\u2019s outer bands was starting to fall Tuesday morning, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A storm surge of 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) above the normal high tide was expected and could reach up to 8 feet (2.4 meters). Surf was expected to build sharply in the next day or two along south- and east-facing reefs, with dangerous surf of 15 to 25 feet (4.5 to 7.6 meters) Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday, the weather service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the island\u2019s grocery and hardware stores Monday, people were leaving with shopping carts full of canned goods, cases of water and generators, the Pacific Daily News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Guam Department of Education was preparing to open emergency shelters Tuesday, KUAM<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. Francis X. Hezel, a Jesuit priest and assistant pastor at Santa Barbara Church in Dededo, was trying to visit people at the hospital before it closed to visitors Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before hitting the road, he had trouble finding someone to help him put air in his tires because everyone was busy readying their homes to withstand the storm, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI live in a rectory,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just closing the windows hoping that the gusts don\u2019t bash them in. Praying for the best, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials warned residents who aren\u2019t in fully concrete structures to consider moving for safety. Many homes are made of wood and tin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe triple threat of cat 4 typhoon force winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge are all expected for Guam and Rota,\u201d the weather service said in a Tuesday morning update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rota, an island in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, was also under a typhoon warning, Doll said. Tinian and Saipan, in the northern Marianas, were under tropical storm warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people in those areas are still in temporary shelters or tents after Category 5 Super Typhoon Yutu<\/a> in 2018, Doll noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGuam takes a Category 4 or 5 hit every five to seven years. Mother Nature has spared us as of late,\u201d Doll said, adding that the last direct hit was in 2002. \u201cSo we are way overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n