Super typhoon Ioke is barreling towards Wake Island (Military, civilians & contractors evacuating)

Whoops! We posted the same picture! Here's a closer view of Wake Island's facilities (from KHNL's website):

I think this is the control tower:

And some people touring what looks like a WWII bunker of some sort:

21 posted on 08/27/2006 9:04:30 PM PDT by conservative in nyc

Is Wake Island a manmade or naturally made Island? Very odd shape.

Natural. It's a pretty typical shape for a Pacific coral atoll. Wake Island is the biggest island. Wilkes and Peale are the other two islands in the atoll:

22 posted on 08/27/2006 9:07:19 PM PDT by conservative in nyc

23 posted on 08/27/2006 9:13:32 PM PDT by ElCid89 (the corps...the corps...and the corps...)

Little know but important battle early in World War II: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151524,00.html

24 posted on 08/27/2006 9:17:41 PM PDT by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG-49) Freedom's Fortress)

I had the pleasure of living on Wake as a child for two years in the early '70s. Hard to describe how wonderful it was for a kid. All sorts of WW II artifacts lying around. Not TV. No radio. Still have dreams about the place and would desperately love to go back and take a look. Military won't allow it though.

25 posted on 08/27/2006 9:18:15 PM PDT by Minn

I spent some time on Kwaj. All those islands are basically under water during major storms.

26 posted on 08/27/2006 9:40:11 PM PDT by CodeToad

Big ocean, teensy island and this wind from hell is aimed at your tiny ass like a heat seeking missle, manuvering is out of the question; time to deploy chaff. Can't hurt!!

27 posted on 08/27/2006 10:13:32 PM PDT by Atchafalaya (When you are there thats the best)

You can literally see the media here in Florida salivating and praying for a hurricane. Finally, they think Ernesto may be the answer to their prayers. Otherwise, they're just going to go back to the same old tired bashing of GW and Katherine Harris.

28 posted on 08/27/2006 10:45:33 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)

To: conservative in nyc

"Wilkes and Peale are the other two islands in the atoll.."

Names after Ashley .. and Norman Vincent .., right?

29 posted on 08/27/2006 10:53:32 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)

"I spent some time on Kwaj. All those islands are basically under water during major storms."

My favorite place is the Philippines. Many people ask just how many islands are there in the Philippines? The standard reply is to ask - do you mean during high tide or low tide? Same issue you raised. Aren't polynesian people wonderful people, even to talk and drink with, I mean?

30 posted on 08/27/2006 10:56:13 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)

Names after Ashley .. and Norman Vincent .., right?

I don't think so. From a website about Wake Island:

Names were given to the two smaller islets by Dr. Alexander Wetmore and other members of the U.S.S. Tanager Expedition, on July 27, 1923. The southwestern islet they called Wilkes, in memory of Lieutenant (later Commodore) Charles Wilkes, leader of the United States Exploring Expedition, which visited and fixed the position of the atoll, December 20, 1841. The northwestern islet was named in honour of Titian Peale, artist with the same expedition.

31 posted on 08/27/2006 11:40:58 PM PDT by conservative in nyc

Aren't Filipinos in that hazy area between Asian and Polynesian?

32 posted on 08/27/2006 11:53:51 PM PDT by Jedi Master Pikachu ( http://www.answersingenesis.org)

Totally laid back. Had a few that had Master's degrees from the US but just wanted the island life.

33 posted on 08/28/2006 7:56:24 AM PDT by CodeToad

To: conservative in nyc

Johnson Atoll doesn't even have a caretaker these days?

I was mistaken about it being uninhabited. According to today's Stars and Stripes -

Ioke spawned last week well to the south of the Hawaiian islands, developed into a hurricane and lashed Johnston Island last Wednesday, JTWC officials said.
The Associated Press reported that five Coast Guardsmen and seven Air Force contractors on the island took shelter from Ioke’s 105 mph winds in a bunker designed to weather a Category 4 storm.

34 posted on 08/28/2006 12:41:35 PM PDT by HAL9000 (Happy 10th Anniversary FreeRepublic.com - Est. Sept. 23, 1996 - Thanks Jim!)

I just sailed over there with Google Earth. There's a nice B-52 display up at Anderson AFB. The island's really populated.

35 posted on 08/28/2006 12:59:36 PM PDT by dljordan

Dummy! I went to Guam! Doh!

36 posted on 08/28/2006 1:02:31 PM PDT by dljordan

Maybe not. The Honolulu Star Bulletin's article on Ioke's brush with Johnston Island claims that the folks who took shelter on Johnston Island were from an Air Force research vessel, and that the island is currently uninhabited (well, at least officially - the Air Force owns research vessels?):

Thirteen people aboard an Air Force research vessel took shelter from Hurricane Ioke on Johnston Island yesterday, the Coast Guard reported.

The island, about 800 miles west-southwest of Honolulu, was expected to be under a hurricane warning until sometime this morning.

The National Weather Service classified Hurricane Ioke as a Category 2 storm, with sustained winds of 105 mph, yesterday evening. It was heading northwest at 9 mph.

Five crew and eight passengers took shelter at a bunker on the uninhabited island sometime yesterday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Luke Clayton said. The group was in a boat of 96 feet or smaller and decided to come ashore to a hurricane-proof bunker, rather than try to weather the storm on the boat, he said.

The Coast Guard had no communication with the group yesterday after it entered the bunker, Luke said.

The Coast Guard is sending its 190-foot buoy-tender Kukui and a 110-foot patrol boat to Johnston Island to retrieve the Air Force group in case its boat does not survive the hurricane, Luke said. The boats should arrive late tonight or early tomorrow, he said.

The Coast Guard also plans to fly a plane over Johnston Island today after the hurricane passes to look for survivors and at the condition of the boat.

JOHNSTON ISLAND is a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuge that hasn't been staffed for more than a year. It also is the site of radioactive materials that have been buried there by the military, after an extensive cleanup. The military also cleaned up the island after chemical weapons were incinerated there.

--Snip--

Hawaii's Gannette Snoozepaper reported that everyone was safe after the storm, and the folks on the boat were "apparently doing repair work" on the island before the hurricane hit.

37 posted on 08/28/2006 1:08:27 PM PDT by conservative in nyc

To: Jedi Master Pikachu

"Aren't Filipinos in that hazy area between Asian and Polynesian?"

That's always been my conclusion also.

38 posted on 08/28/2006 8:06:53 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)

"I just sailed over there with Google Earth. There's a nice B-52 display up at Anderson AFB. The island's really populated" I got to put that B-52 back together after we took a direct hit from super typhoon Paka on Guam.

39 posted on 08/28/2006 9:41:18 PM PDT by ratt

"I got to put that B-52 back together after we took a direct hit from super typhoon Paka on Guam."

Cool! Is it stripped inside?

40 posted on 08/29/2006 6:36:24 AM PDT by dljordan

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