A super typhoon steadily battered a pair of remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean with ferocious winds and relentless rains, shredding tin roofs and forcing residents to take cover from flying tree limbs.<\/p>\n
Super Typhoon Sinlaku<\/a> pounded the Northern Mariana Islands for hours before daybreak Wednesday, slowing just to inflict more damage across the islands of Tinian and Saipan, home to nearly 50,000 people.<\/p>\n In the village Susupe on Saipan, the wind tore the roof off a commercial building and broke tree branches. A blue sedan lay on its side. <\/p>\n Resident Dong Min Lee shot some video of a car sitting on top of two others in his apartment building\u2019s parking lot below. The winds also tore off part of his balcony railing. <\/p>\n \u201cI hope people will take an interest and help. The damage is really huge here,\u201d Lee said in a Facebook message.<\/p>\n Saipan is a U.S. territory about 3,800 miles (6,115 kilometers) west of Hawaii.<\/p>\n Seafaring Chamorro people settled it and neighboring islands more than 3,500 years ago. Spain colonized it in the 17th century, followed by Germany and then Japan.<\/p>\n The U.S. and Japan fought one of World War II\u2019s bloodiest battles on Saipan in 1944, killing more than 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers and local civilians.<\/p>\n The U.S. administered Saipan on behalf of the United Nations after the war. It\u2019s been a U.S. territory and part of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands since 1975.<\/p>\n Preliminary reports include a lot of flooding, uprooted trees and downed power lines, said Jaden Sanchez, spokesperson for the Saipan mayor\u2019s office. There were no reports of deaths, he said.<\/p>\n Authorities were advising residents to remain indoors and away from strong winds, but Mayor Ramon \u201cRB\u201d Jose Blas Camacho was out in the community assessing the damage, Sanchez said.<\/p>\n The typhoon \u2014 the strongest tropical cyclone on Earth this year \u2014 was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph (240 kph) when it made landfall on the islands, the National Weather Service said.<\/p>\n Tropical force winds and torrential rainfall also led to flash flooding on Guam, a U.S. territory to the south with several U.S. military installations and about 170,000 residents, the weather service said. Earlier, it hit the outer islands and atolls of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia.<\/p>\n The American Red Cross and its partners were sheltering more than 1,000 residents across Guam and the Northern Marians, agency spokesperson Stephanie Fox said.<\/p>\n \u2018Rain was coming through everywhere\u2019<\/p>\n