This week, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was struck by the most powerful storm of 2026. The storm caused extensive flooding, tore roofs from homes, and persisted for over two days, leaving families to endure without power, phone service, or running water while they awaited its end.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku originated southeast of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam—both U.S. territories in the western Pacific archipelago—and quickly escalated to a Category 5 storm with winds reaching 185 mph. Initially, the typhoon hit Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, resulting in one casualty and one missing fisherman. The storm then moved north of Guam, causing flooding from tropical storm winds, before striking Saipan and Tinian in the CNMI. This path mirrored that of Super Typhoon Yutu eight years prior, which devastated thousands of homes and left children attending school in tents.
While destructive storms are known to the Northern Mariana Islands, home to around 50,000 people including Indigenous Chamorros and Carolinians, this typhoon felt unprecedented. “It’s still whistling and you can still hear it going on and things are banging outside,” Ed Propst, a Chamorro resident and former commonwealth legislator, remarked from his home in Saipan on Thursday morning. “I’ve never seen anything like this, where a typhoon just doesn’t seem to leave.” The storm’s early arrival in April, two months before the typical typhoon season, was also notable. “When was the last time we had a super typhoon hitting us this early in the year?” Propst wondered. “This is the first that I can recall.”
The timing of this super typhoon is critical for the U.S. territory, which is grappling with a prolonged economic downturn and is still in the process of recovering from Super Typhoon Yutu. Additionally, the storm coincides with a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for federal disaster relief, amidst ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to reduce disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation efforts.
Sheila Babauta, a Chamorro climate justice advocate on Saipan and a fellow with the nonprofit Right to Democracy, shared, “We are taking a devastating hit from Super Typhoon Sinlaku, compounding the urgent local priorities we already face, from coastal erosion to an economic crisis.” She sheltered from the storm with her two-month-old and highlighted the community’s ongoing battles against federal ecological threats like deep-sea mining and militarization. “Our community is strong, but even warriors need rest,” she added.
Experts suggest that while Super Typhoon Sinlaku might have occurred independently of climate change, the warming seas increased its likelihood and rapid intensification. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the California Institute for Water Resources, explained via email, “In the days leading up to the development of this supertyphoon, ocean surface temperatures in the region were as high as 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit above the recent average (which is already warmer than much of the 20th century). Because warm tropical oceans are ‘hurricane fuel,’ the current supertyphoon has rapidly intensified in a favorable environment that is at least partly linked to climate change via warming oceans.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized disaster relief for the region before the storm hit, with 90 personnel stationed in Guam and the CNMI to provide assistance. “FEMA’s distribution center in Guam is stocked with approximately 1.1 million liters of water, 723,000 meals, 5,300 cots, 3,600 blankets, 4,400 tarps, and 78 generators, which can be used if needed,” a spokesperson informed Grist, noting that 42 generators are already en route to Saipan. However, the agency expressed concerns over a Congressional deadlock on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, partly due to Democrats’ opposition to Trump’s immigration policies, which could impact disaster relief funding availability. FEMA falls under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. “We urge Democrats in Congress to stop playing games and restore DHS’s funding before American communities suffer the next disaster ALONE,” a FEMA spokesperson stated.
Adi Martínez Román, co-director of the nonprofit Right to Democracy that supports U.S. territories, expressed concern over Trump’s lasting changes to disaster relief and climate change programs. Over the past year, the administration has reduced FEMA staffing, cut hazard mitigation support, and removed climate change references across the federal sector. Román is pleased FEMA has approved aid for Sinlaku but questions the resources available for long-term recovery. “That’s a very big question,” she commented.
During the storm, Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the commonwealth’s sole representative on Capitol Hill, posted a Facebook video to reassure residents of her collaboration with federal partners for necessary aid. “At this stage, funding issues have not been raised by FEMA or any other federal agency in our communications,” King-Hinds’ spokesperson Chris Conception told Grist. “However, we remain mindful that the CNMI relies heavily on timely federal support following major disasters, and any constraints on resources could affect the speed and scope of recovery, particularly in remote and infrastructure-constrained communities like ours.”
Prior to the storm, King-Hinds was one of the leading political figures in the commonwealth appealing to the Trump administration for federal support to counter the islands’ significant economic challenges. Tourism, a critical industry, has seen arrivals drop to less than half of pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, leading to business closures and increased migration. King-Hinds and the CNMI requested policy changes from the Trump administration to attract more tourists, such as easing flight restrictions from China and visa restrictions from the Philippines, alongside a federal bailout. However, Trump officials have remained unresponsive.
Román, from Puerto Rico, highlighted the difficulties U.S. territories face in influencing federal policies due to their status as modern-day colonies. Residents of the CNMI and other territories cannot vote for president and lack representation in the U.S. Senate. Their delegates to the House of Representatives, like King-Hinds, can voice their concerns but cannot vote. “It is so difficult for us to have agency in federal policies,” Román explained. “Programs are built responding to constituencies, and we are not considered a constituency.”
This disparity becomes increasingly problematic as U.S. territories face the growing impacts of climate change, including stronger storms, rising seas, coral bleaching, heat-related illnesses, and limited freshwater. Propst from Saipan noted that educating distant federal officials about the realities faced by residents is a significant challenge. “They’re thousands and thousands of miles away, just totally unplugged and clueless as to our real economic challenges,” he said.
Though no longer a legislator, Propst continues to receive numerous messages from residents coping with Sinlaku: a mother trapped and in need of baby formula, a friend who lost most of his solar panels, and a colleague whose property resembles a lake. Regardless of federal funding, Propst trusts that his neighbors will support those in need. “We’ve been through this before, and we know what it takes to get through it again,” he affirmed.
