Weather forcasters can barely predict a week ahead, let alone months. Last year they said it was going to be a cold and snowy winter and was unusually warm and dry. I take one day at a time.
What is a superty-phoon anyway?? My guess is that it's the name of a village in Thailand... 8~)
just got done looking at films of winters in Indiana...I've still got my "I survived the blizzard of '78" tee shirt somewhere...
Supertyphoon Pongsona
In Pongsona's wakeTuesday, December 10, 2002
In Pongsona's wake
Bush declares Guam federal disaster area
By Oyaol Ngirairikl, and Scott Radway
ongirairikl@guampdn.com; Pacific Daily News
As island residents began piecing their homes and lives together yesterday, federal and local officials began working to rebuild the island. President Bush declared Guam a federal disaster area yesterday morning, while Federal Emergency Management Agency officials were welcomed at a Civil Defense meeting yesterday afternoon.
FEMA officials were on Guam because they anticipated Supertyphoon Pongsona would hit Saipan, making Guam strategically ideal for a quick emergency response.
"We're really here to support all of you. We're going into the long haul here ... and the weight of the federal family is behind all of us," said David Fukutami, FEMA's coordinating officer.
Instead of Saipan, Pongsona hit Guam with sustained winds of 150 mph and gusts to 184 mph, essentially flattening parts of the island.
Maj. Gen. Benny Paulino, acting director of military affairs, asked agency directors to provide preliminary damage assessments, to get a comprehensive look at the island's current status.
"We're going to give the governor an immediate assessment of each of your respective areas. We're not looking for details. We're looking at quick assessments so we can get an appreciation of what we're dealing with," Paulino said.
Civil Defense officials yesterday could not yet provide the number of people injured, homeless, or dead because of the supertyphoon.
Don Weakley, acting associate director at Guam Memorial Hospital, confirmed one death related to the supertyphoon. He said an elderly woman was cut badly during the peak of the storm and apparently went into cardiac arrest.
He said no one could get an emergency crew to the house, which was only a short distance from the hospital. The family of the woman attempted cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, he said, but the woman was dead when she finally arrived at the hospital.
Five other deaths occurred during the storm, two at the hospital, but Weakley could not confirm if those deaths were related to Pongsona.
Guam Fire Department and Guam National Guard members were assigned to search for possible typhoon survivors who were stranded without shelter or transportation, officials said.
John Ryan, spokesman for Gov. Carl Gutierrez, said during the first hours after the storm, recovery efforts were only beginning to take shape as crews concentrated on pulling trapped people from collapsed houses and finding shelter for the homeless.
"This was a bad typhoon. We are trying to rescue people who may still be trapped and getting people who may have lost their homes into shelters by nightfall," Ryan said.
Airport
For those residents waiting for visiting family members, or those expecting to leave Guam, the good news is the airport might reopen by 5 p.m. today.
"Frankly, I question if that's really feasible," said Gerald Yingling, executive manager of the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport Authority.
The airport's priority at this time, Yingling said, is to ensure FEMA planes arrive safely.
Current issues facing the airport are safety and inoperable navigational equipment. Yingling said he was in contact with Federal Aviation Administration officials regarding those matters.
Pongsona steamrolled about 60 percent of the metal security fences surrounding the airport. Yingling said airport police were patrolling the area.
Andersen Air Force Base's airport was hit worse than the civilian airport, so asking the Air Force for help is not feasible, he added.
Port
Port Authority of Guam officials said damage assessments at that facility were slow going, hampered by fires at a fuel tank farm.
Sometime Sunday afternoon, a tank of jet fuel caught fire. Firefighters from Anderson Air Force Base, the airport and the local fire department were working yesterday to keep other tanks of airplane fuel from catching fire.
Utilities
Government directors urged people to stay home or at shelters, as traffic has hampered agencies' efforts to reach telephone lines, utility poles and other utilities that need to be assessed and repaired.
Anyone who doesn't have to be on the road should stay at home, one official said.
Although Guam was returned to Typhoon Condition 4 at 2 p.m. yesterday, many residents hit the road for a look at the damage caused by Pongsona, weaving through jet skis, tree branches and swinging poles held up by power lines.
Guam Power Authority General Manager T. Ann Aguon Perez said unnecessary traffic was slowing her agency's efforts to assess the number of downed power poles.
"It's taking my crews more than an hour to get to different areas they need to work at," she said.
Perez said although the utility sustained damage, many generators at the power plants looked intact and need to be fired up to ensure they are fully operable.
The governor Sunday said full power, water and sewage restoration would take several weeks.
Debris
Mayors' offices already have begun cleanup and recovery efforts in their respective villages.
Mayors' Council President Robert S. Lizama said mayors are concerned that residents whose homes were destroyed by Supertyphoon Pongsona need different types of assistance.
"They have families out there who are calling the mayors' offices because they have no place to stay," said Lizama, who also is Yigo's mayor.
Other people are asking for tarps and tents so they can sleep near their homes because they are afraid that people may loot them, he said.
Guam Police Department officials said officers are on rotating shifts to ensure maximum force, especially during evenings "to keep vulnerable stores and homes safe."
Jesse Garcia, Department of Public Works acting director, said crews already are on the streets, clearing debris.
Garcia added anyone with debris can leave it on the side of the road, and his crews will pick it up. He could not say how long it will be until his crews picked up the debris.
But Guam Environmental Protection Agency officials said residents are already piling debris at waste sites that were designated for use after July's Typhoon Chata'an.
"There are no dumps open yet ... so right now, what people are doing is illegal," said David Longa, GEPA acting administrator.
Longa said five dumpsites were identified earlier, but the storm was stronger than anticipated, so more sites need to be identified.
Meanwhile, residents should wait to dump their debris until those sites are opened.
Telephones
Guam Telephone Authority officials are working to restore to residents.
"We do have a downed fiber ring that covers the south. ... We're assuming that's part of an ocean break," GTA General Manager Vince Arriola said yesterday.
Crews were assessing the break yesterday morning, but officials did not know how long it would take to repair the break and restore service to residents in the southern ring, which include the villages of Piti, Agat, Inarajan and Umatac.
With the exception of those southern villages and other isolated areas, officials are expecting telephone service to be restored by early today.
Schools
Vince Leon Guerrero, Department of Education response activity coordinator, said 15 public schools are being used as shelters, and administrators have been told to begin damage assessments at schools.
Before Sunday's storm, at least two shelters, Astumbo Elementary School and Maria Ulloa Elementary School, reached capacity and several people were directed to other shelters.
At least one school locked its gates during relative calm of the passage of the storm's eye, when families were hurrying to find shelter from demolished homes.
Leon Guerrero said each school had different capacity levels, but added several of the schools exceeded capacity.
"But there has to be a limit," he said.
"At one of the schools, there was a fight in the middle of the parking lot during the typhoon."
Hey man, don't knock Super Typhoons. I was on the edge of one several hundred NM outside of Guam like 5 years ago. Our 750 foot container ship was only on the edge but we were doing 25 degree rolls. When we got back to Apra Harbor I saw a slow P.O.S. flag of convenience containership whose masts were twisted like they were made from copper wire. Containers onboard that ship were ripped to shreds.
I love snow too. I want to move to Wyoming.
NOAA has spoken so now get ready for a cold winter. These are the same guys that said Texas was going to go through a drought this year. Wettest year in a decade if not longer.
Not very good writing. Rather than abnormal, perhaps, seemingly irregularly occuring and not currently predictable.
