Typhoon Pongsona produced strong wind gusts peaking at 285 km/h (175 mph), which left the entire island of Guam without power and destroyed about 1,300 houses.

With strong building standards and experience from repeated typhoon strikes, there were no fatalities directly related to Pongsona, although there was one indirect death from flying glass.

The typhoon also caused extreme damage on Rota and elsewhere in the Northern Mariana Islands, and as a result of its impact the name was retired.

[2] At 0600 UTC that day, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) classified the system as a tropical depression about 735 km (457 mi) east-northeast of Pohnpei.

[2] Initially, the circulation was exposed from the convection, although it was able to intensify into Tropical Storm Pongsona at 1200 UTC on December 3 while located 375 km (233 mi) northeast of Pohnpei.

After the typhoon underwent rapid deepening, the JTWC estimated that Pongsona reached peak winds of 273 km/h (170 mph) 1-min sustained), making it a supertyphoon.

[3] The typhoon turned to the north-northwest through a weakness in the subtropical ridge a short distance west of the Northern Mariana Islands.

As a result, both the JTWC and the JMA declared Pongsona as an extratropical cyclone on December 11 about 1,400 km (870 mi) northwest of Wake Island.

By one day before the typhoon moved through the Mariana Islands, JTWC predicted Pongsona to pass well east of the area.

The Guam Office of Civil Defense filed the paperwork for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to declare the island a disaster area.

[6] Following experience from previous typhoons, Guam newspaper Pacific Daily News underwent preparations to provide internet updates for the storm, including reinforcing the building, maintaining sufficient food supplies for the staff, and stationing two reporters elsewhere on the island; the paper was the only immediate source of information about the typhoon outside of Guam.

[10] Tracking slowly across the center of the island, the intense inner rainbands dropped heavy rainfall which peaked at 650 mm (26 in) at the University of Guam.

The combination of strong storm surge and rough waves caused considerable beach erosion and severe coastal damage.

The typhoon injured 193 people, as reported by the Guam Department of Health; most were lacerations and fractures caused by flying glass and other debris.

As six typhoons had passed directly over the island during the previous ten years, officials in Guam enacted strong building standards, keeping deaths and injuries to a minimum.

[7] On the same day that Typhoon Pongsona struck Guam, President George W. Bush declared the island a major disaster area.

[11] Around the time of the cyclone passing over the island, 2,271 residents were in shelters, and by the next day it increased to 3,467 after people discovered their homes were uninhabitable.

[7] The American Red Cross worked with the United States Department of Agriculture to provide meals for shelter attendees for a two-week period following the typhoon.

[1] During the height of the typhoon at Cabras Island on Guam, a gasoline tank caught fire, believed to be from friction caused by extremely high winds running through its ventilation system.

Officials airlifted about 3,600 kg (7,900 lb) of emergency supplies including tents, tarps, water containers, coolers, cooking kits and electrical equipment.

[15] Due to the damage resulted from the storm, the name Pongsona was retired during the 38th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and World Meteorological Organization typhoon committee in November 2005; it was replaced with the name Noul.