Airmen at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, load a C-130J Super Hercules from Yokota Air Base, Japan, with relief supplies for the island of Rota in the Marianas Islands, hard hit by Super Typhoon Bavi, on Thursday, July 90, 2006. (U.S. Air Force via Facebook)
Japan’s Ishigaki island, a popular southwestern tourist destination and home to a Japanese army base, is battening down for Typhoon Bavi’s expected arrival early Saturday.
Bavi is forecast to pass over the island as a Category 2-equivalent storm, with sustained winds up to 110 mph, and about 280 miles southwest of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. The storm’s wind field stretches 230 miles across.
A much stronger, Category 5-equivalent Super Typhoon Bavi left parts of the Northern Marianas Islands and Guam, all U.S. territories, in tatters Monday.
It struck Rota, a 33-square-mile island with about 2,000 residents, head on with 180 mph sustained winds. The storm left many of the island’s homes damaged or destroyed and its approximately 2,000 residents without water or power.
Ishigaki city’s Disaster Prevention Division “has been holding meetings and coordinating on evacuation shelter arrangements and public relations for the past three days,” a spokesman said by phone Thursday.
Airmen at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, embark on a C-130J Super Hercules from Yokota Air Base, Japan, bound for Rota in the Marianas Islands, to help with recovery efforts July 9, 2026, following Super Typhoon Bavi. (U.S. Air Force via Facebook)
A spokesman for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 15th Brigade on Okinawa declined comment by phone Thursday on preparations at Camp Ishigaki, citing operational security.
Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
The city closed its popular Painuhama Beach through Sunday and canceled medical checkups scheduled for residents on Friday, according to the city’s website.
It advised residents to store water in tanks and bathtubs for flushing toilets and showering and to keep about one gallon of potable water per person on hand.
The city’s official Facebook page on Thursday also urged residents to remain alert for landslides, flooding in low-lying areas and rising or overflowing rivers.
Some Japan Airlines and all ANA flights in and out of Ishigaki and Naha airports on Friday were canceled due to the storm, according to the airlines’ websites. Ferry service in and out of Ishigaki Port was canceled through Saturday, according to its website.
Relief supplies and personnel started to arrive Wednesday in the Marianas, according to social media posts from the U.S. military and American Red Cross.
Two C-130 Hercules airlifters from Yokota Air Base, Japan, landed on Rota to “position personnel and resources in support of disaster relief operations” for the island and its neighbors, Andersen Air Force Base said in a Facebook post Thursday.
The Navy’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 from Andersen is providing “critical aerial assessments” in the region, Joint Task Force-Micronesia spokeswoman Army Capt. Christy Hanson said by email Thursday.
The joint task force’s role is to “support civil authorities and provide assistance to those in need” and work with government partners to “ensure a unified and effective response,” Rear Adm. Josh Lasky, the task force commander, said in Hanson’s email.
The American Red Cross sent teams from Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and South Carolina to the Marianas to help with the recovery effort, according to Red Cross posts on Facebook on Wednesday and Monday.
“Shelters are open, and volunteers from across the country are standing by to provide comfort, meals and recovery supplies as soon as it’s safe,” according to an American Red Cross post Wednesday.
“Even more of our volunteers will arrive in the coming days as teams assess the impact of the storm and ensure people have the support they need during this difficult time,” the post states.