Residents of Guam and surrounding U.S. island territories in the western Pacific were urged to seek shelter as Super Typhoon Bavi was expected to make landfall early Monday, threatening an area still recovering from another destructive storm earlier this year.

Bavi, a huge cyclone approaching the Mariana Islands east of the Philippines, is forecast to hit Rota on Monday morning local time, said National Weather Service meteorologist Edwin Montvila.

“They are already running into catastrophic winds right now,” he said of Rota, a territory of less than 2,000 people northeast of Guam, adding that an extreme wind warning was in effect for the island. The cyclone is forecast to be a category five super typhoon with winds that could reach 290 kilometers (180 miles) per hour and gusts of 346 kilometers (215 miles) per hour, Montvila said.

In addition to Rota, typhoon warnings were in effect for Guam, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm warnings and watches were in effect for other islands in the area.

The storm comes months after Super Typhoon Sinlaku, this year’s strongest tropical cyclone, slammed into the region’s islands in April, bringing fierce winds and relentless rain. A cyclone becomes a super typhoon when it has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or stronger.

Bavi posed an “imminent danger to life,” Montvila said, and the weather service asked residents of the islands to immediately move to the interior rooms where they were taking shelter and stay away from windows.

“Entering outside can result in death from flying projectiles. Utility poles and associated power lines will be down,” Montvila said. “All of this would represent a risk to life, so we advise people not to venture out and take shelter.”

Bavi was moving at a relatively fast pace Monday morning, giving officials hope it would pass quickly, Montvila said. But due to the size of the storm, the islands could still face tropical storm conditions, including torrential rain, at least through Monday night.

The typhoon “was a little erratic” overnight into Monday morning, swinging from north to south as it headed west toward the islands, Montvila said.

Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero urged people to stay home or in a shelter and avoid the roads.

“Here we are experiencing another severe force of winds on our island, but as we know, we are always ready and prepared in our planning and protection of our people,” he said in a video posted on social media on Sunday.