Wake Island evacuates as super typhoon bears down

Honolulu Statr Bulletin ^ | 8/29/06 | Gregg K. Kakesako

[conservative in nyc]

For the first time in nearly five decades, this tiny coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific, where its highest point barely rises to about 18 feet, has been evacuated.

The reason is Super Typhoon Ioke, whose eye is aiming straight at Wake Island, home to an American base. The fragile atoll is expected to be pummeled by gusts of up to 160 knots and waves of up to 40 feet.

"This is the most excitement I have seen in years," said Bill Wilson, one of 188 residents who were evacuated by the Air Force and flown to Honolulu in two C-17 Globemaster cargo jets yesterday.

"It's a shocker how this storm has grown so big and stayed so strong," said Wilson, who supervises fuel operations and lives in a wooden duplex near the beach. He stored his personal items, including a computer and DVD player, in plastic garbage bags. Like many of his counterparts, he hopes his belongings will survive Ioke.

Rosie Noggle and her husband, Richard, are among a handful of people who actually consider Wake Island their home. She said a longtime resident told her that the last time people were forced to flee by a storm was in 1957.

"I am told that people weren't evacuated until after the typhoon hit," said Noggle, site administrator for the civilian contractor hired by the Air Force.

"There was a lot of damage, and no one was allowed to come back for three months until after the island was restored," she said.

Her company, Chugach Support Services in Anchorage, Alaska, has 149 Thai nationals and 33 Americans on its payroll.

WAKE ISLAND was captured by the Japanese following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and later recaptured by American forces. It is located about 2,300 miles west of the main Hawaiian islands, at about the same latitude as Kona on the Big Island. The islands of Peale, Wilkes and Wake make up the atoll, with a runway the dominating feature on Wake Island.

Residents and Air Force personnel stationed here were warned three days ago that they might have to evacuate, and they were ready when two C-17s landed early yesterday.

Henry Lau, National Weather Service forecaster, said last night that "it's too close to call if the eye will directly hit Wake or miss it."

Typically, the eye of a typhoon is about 20 to 25 miles in diameter, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters have predicted the eye could come within three miles of the atoll tomorrow.

Last night, Ioke was 60 miles east of Wake and rated as a Category 5 storm. Winds were recorded at 130 knots, with gusts up to 160 knots.

The Air Force said Wake, where the highest point is only 18 feet above sea level, could endure waves as high as 18 feet, with surges up to 40 feet.

The evacuees were taken to Hickam Air Force Base on the two C-17s operated by Air Force and Hawaii Air National Guard crews. Both cargo jets were configured to carry 104 passengers for the four-hour flight.

The C-17s left Hickam Air Force Base just before 3 a.m. yesterday. On Wake Island they were on the ground only for 90 minutes, long enough to load the evacuees and a small pallet of luggage.

Master Sgt. Reginald Solomon, an administrative contract officer who lives in a concrete structure about 100 yards from the beach, said all he was allowed to take was one bag and one carry-on.

"I don't know what's going to happen when the typhoon hits," said Solomon, who has lived here for almost a year. "These buildings are old."

"It's good to be leaving," he said. "It eases my peace of mind."

[conservative in nyc]

Rebuilding a military outpost will cost all of us money.

Any bets on when the weather station will finally quit? I'd be surprised if it lasts another hour.

[kingu]

I'll be pleasantly surprised if it gives any more readings at all. Transmitting data through a hurricane while /in/ the hurricane has got to be an interesting technical challenge that I doubt most weather stations are built to handle.

[HAL9000]

is it possible this will destroy the island entirely?

I don't know. Maybe it depends on the reefs around the atoll?

[kingu]

I seriously doubt that the island will be destroyed - those atolls are usually pretty durn old before we trip over them, and they've survived many a hurricane. I think this is the strongest hurricane to hit Wake Island in modern history, but that's a drop in the bucket geologically speaking.

[kingu]

06:42Z
0.58 knots wind
14.77 knots gust
960.40 mbars pressure

Could the island be in the eye? Or did the wind gage break? It shouldn't be at the eyewall for another two hours or so, if my tracking is right.

[HAL9000]

Maybe the rats have climbed up on the anemometer to get above the storm surge.

[conservative in nyc]

After missing a few readings, the 6:42Z reading showed sustained winds of 0.58 kph, gusting to 14.07 kph. Pressure is down to 960.40 mb. Wind direction flipped from NNW to SSE. Could Wake now be in the eye of the storm? Is the station broken? Or is 0.58kph really 100.58kph, which would be 115MPH?

[Nailbiter]

see#21

[HAL9000]

1890000 seems to be offline now.

[kingu]

07:56Z, 12:56AM PDT, Wake Island

We either have a very, very near miss or a hit, and probably about as close as we'll ever know unless the next pass happens to catch the island in the eye itself. Shame the dudes on the International Space Station can't take pictures of things like this - a great zoom lens could give a fascinating image.

[HAL9000]

I've been looking at the large image of that. It looks like the island took a direct hit, but the center of the eye was slightly to the north. At that angle, the storm surge would rush into the canal north of the air strip - where the meteo station was located.

[HAL9000]

Here a zoomed-in visible image just before the eye hit -

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/vis/geo/1km_zoom/20060831.0530.gms6.x.vis1km_high.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-185N-1683E.100pc.jpg

[kingu]

While I think you're right, I think the expected mean 50 foot waves would have more direct effect rather than the storm surge itself. Especially on an island where the control tower is just under 50 feet high. (Probably a 'was' should be attached to the control tower statement.)

[kingu]

Try this one...

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/ir/geo/1km_bw/20060831.0756.gms6.x.ir1km_bw.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-192N-1674E.100pc.jpg

[kingu]

OMG... The weather station that could!

09:00Z
Wind 20.41 knots
Gust 38.10 knots
Pressure 934.70 mbars

I think we have eye verification... Wow, look at that pressure.

[HAL9000]

I'm using my browser's forward and back buttons to view this sequence -

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/vapor/geo/1km/20060831.0630.gms6.x.wv1km.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-192N-1674E.100pc.jpg

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/vapor/geo/1km/20060831.0656.gms6.x.wv1km.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-192N-1674E.100pc.jpg

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/vapor/geo/1km/20060831.0730.gms6.x.wv1km.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-192N-1674E.100pc.jpg

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/vapor/geo/1km/20060831.0756.gms6.x.wv1km.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-192N-1674E.100pc.jpg

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc06/CPAC/01C.IOKE/vapor/geo/1km/20060831.0830.gms6.x.wv1km.01CIOKE.135kts-910mb-192N-1674E.100pc.jpg

[HAL9000]

Just amazing.

[HAL9000]

Tide Data -

[kingu]

Third reading in a row, pressure slightly increasing to 934.3, I'm pretty much convinced that the station is in the eye at the moment, and just amazed that it is able to broadcast at all. The island must not have been swamped like assumed. I really wish someone would have figured out a good way of putting detailed information gathering technology on the island before leaving - a video camera right now would be absolutely wonderful.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

It won't be much of a match for 50-foot waves, though.

Maybe that's what will do in the rodents?! ;-)