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

KHON TV and KHNL TV ^ | August 27, 2006

[HAL9000]

KHON TV -

Super typhoon Ioke is barreling towards Wake Island

It's big and packing quite a punch. Super typhoon Ioke is barreling towards Wake Island.

The massive storm is churning around in the central pacific. It's packing winds of more than 160 miles per hour, a category five storm.

Roy Matsuda from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center says, "it is projected to go along this track toward wake island as you can see and to reach Wake Island approximately Wednesday afternoon our time within 13 nautical miles."

And because of that a team from Hawaii will head to Wake Island to help evacuate about 200 people before super typhoon Ioke hits.

Military and civilian personnel on Wake Island support US pacific command operations. The base also serves as an emergency airfield.

Two c-17 planes are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning to pick up the evacuees.

We'll have a videographer heading with the team to Wake Island, and will bring you a full report when they return to Hawaii.

---

KHNL TV -

Hickam Airman To Evacuate Hundreds From Wake Island

(KHNL) Two C-17 Globemaster III aircraft will depart from Hickam within 24 hours to evacuate approximately 200 military, DoD civilians and contractors from Wake Island.

Hickam Air Force Base C-17 Crewmembers are preparing to rescue those working on Wake Island.

Hurricane Ioke is expected to reach Wake Island within 72 hours; the evacuation mission will need to be completed prior to the expected storm surge.

Wake Island supports U.S. Pacific Command major regional taskings. The base provides facilities, vehicles, aerospace ground equipment and aviation fuel to sustain aircraft for combat operations.

It also provides for the bed down of forces and emergency divert airfield operations.

Some tour groups offer treks of WWII historical sites and aircraft.

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Hurricane Ioke has been reclassified as Super Typhoon Ioke.

[conservative in nyc]

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:

[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:

[ElCid89]

LMAO no kidding.

[neodad]

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

[Minn]

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.

[CodeToad]

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

[Atchafalaya]

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!!

[Rembrandt]

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.

[Rembrandt]

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

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

[Rembrandt]

"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?

[conservative in nyc]

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.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

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

[CodeToad]

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

[HAL9000]

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.

[dljordan]

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

[dljordan]

Dummy! I went to Guam! Doh!

[conservative in nyc]

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.

[Rembrandt]

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

That's always been my conclusion also.

[ratt]

"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.

[dljordan]

"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?