When Lorenza Atan and other members of her family sought shelter at Machananao Elementary School before Typhoon Mangkhut passed close to Guam on Monday evening, it was with the understanding that her home may not survive the night.

She was nervous, not only because of how Mangkhut had been described – with early comparisons to Supertyphoon Pongsona in 2002 – but also because she had no place to stay should her home be destroyed.

Mangkhut's arrival was not as powerful as Pongsona's, but that didn't prevent it from damaging the island.

The villages of Yigo and Dededo were hit particularly hard by the typhoon. The north has hundreds of substandard homes, and northern shelters were filling to capacity by Monday. In Dededo alone, about 500 to 600 houses were deemed vulnerable to typhoon-force winds.

Residents who weren't able to register at certain northern shelters in time were asked to go to shelters in other areas.

Atan's home, a tent with some plywood coverings around the side, was destroyed. Her children live in a separate wooden unit, but while its exterior remained largely intact, the inside was soaked and appliances thrown about. Parts of its tin roofing were scattered around the back of the home.

Atan's sister weathered the storm with her husband at their wood-and-tin home behind Atan's. The husband, Francisco Haruchy, said wind and rain entered through gaps between the roof and walls.

The Machananao school shelter was full and they decided to stay to look after their belongings. The couple had no sleep between Mangkhut's arrival Monday night and Tuesday morning. Their son's home, built next to theirs, was reduced to a wooden skeleton.

Neighbor Kasno Sam also remained home while his family stayed at a shelter. His house's tin roof flew off and its walls were battered during the typhoon. He gathered what he could and stayed in his car through the night.

'Everything is gone'

Esta Haddy and her sister, Caritas Jaddy, spent Monday night in the shelter at Machananao Elementary, waiting anxiously for Mangkhut to pass. They were not prepared to find their home completely destroyed the next day.

"Everything is gone," Esta Haddy said.

The yellow painted walls of the wood-and-tin structure fell over as the roof collapsed to Mangkhut's typhoon-force winds. Everything inside had either blown away or was destroyed by torrential downpours as the storm passed.

"We need help because we don't have a place to stay," Esta Haddy said.

With their home in shambles, the sisters did not want to leave and return to a shelter.

They spent the day cleaning, trying to pick up the pieces and figure out how to get help and rebuild their home.

While they were without power, they were grateful they still had running water.

At the storm's peak Monday night, public schools acting as shelters housed 2,143 individuals. About 45 percent were children, according Guam Department of Education Superintendent Jon Fernandez.

By noon Tuesday, Atan was wondering where she and her family could stay as they knew they would have to leave the Machananao school shelter.

Secondary shelters

Guam Homeland Security/Guam Office of Civil Defense Administrator Charles Esteves said the agency was working with island mayors to transition residents in shelters who suffered damage to their homes into secondary shelters.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent food and water supplies to Guam several days prior to the arrival of Typhoon Mangkhut.

"We're going to get a good count of who is going to remain in the shelter and from there we're going to execute our mass sheltering and feeding plan," Esteves stated.

He said the government is also coordinating with volunteer organizations including Catholic Social Service, Salvation Army and American Red Cross.

By about noon, when the island was placed under Condition of Readiness 4, the school shelterees were made aware of secondary shelter arrangements, Fernandez said.

The Department of Public Works assisted shelterees in need of transportation and Special Education Department buses were used to transport individuals in wheelchairs.

GDOE was also prepared to provide targeted support to mayors during secondary sheltering, mostly focused on school-aged children, by providing clothing, shoes, supplies and other needs, Fernandez said.

As of Monday night, about 297 shelterees were seeking secondary shelters, the vast majority from the northern areas. There were three shelters: Astumbo Gym in the north, Agana Heights Gym for central villages and Agat Gym for displaced southern residents.

There were only eight individuals at Agana Heights and they were being transferred to Astumbo, according to Mayors' Council of Guam Executive Director Angel Sablan. There were 289 at Astumbo as of 6 p.m., Sablan said. No one showed in at Agat, he added.