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Date

Start Date: April 14, 2026
Disaster Type: Hurricanes & Cyclones
Region: Northern Mariana Islands, Oceania

View Maps & Data on the NASA Disasters Portal

 

UPDATE APRIL 15, 2026

Typhoon Sinlaku made landfall in the Northern Mariana Islands on April 14 as a powerful Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 150 mph and recorded gusts reaching 185 mph. The islands of Saipan and Tinian experienced widespread power blackouts and extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, as well as heavy flooding from over 20 inches of rain. Guam also experienced significant impacts, including power outages and flash flooding, though it avoided a direct hit from the storm's eye.

In coordination with FEMA and other federal partners, the NASA Disasters Program is working with the American Red Cross and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to support their response to the storm. The program is sharing satellite-based maps and data with partners, including NASA Black Marble data to assess power outages, landslide hazard assessment maps, and imagery from commercial partners – enabled by NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition Program – that provide context and situational awareness. 

Black and white satellite image of an airport in Guam.
Radar backscatter image of Antonio B Won Pat International Airport in Guam, captured by satellites on April 14, 2026. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors have the ability to “see through” clouds to capture images of homes and infrastructure even in the midst of a hurricane. This image includes copyrighted material of Umbra. All rights reserved. This work utilized data made available through the NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program.

The NASA Disasters Program is also working with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Emergency Management program to support the Guam Remote Ground Terminal (GRGT), a key facility for relaying and processing NASA satellite data. 

Maps and data are being shared to the NASA Disasters Portal as they become available. 

 

Satellite image of Typhoon Sinlaku.
Suomi-NPP VIIRS Image of Typhoon Sinlaku with boundary overlay of the Mariana Islands, collected on April 13, 2026. Credit: NASA