Guam declared a disaster area

Super typhoon Pongsona caused widespread destruction on Guam over the weekend. The island has been declared a federal disaster area and help is on the way from Hawai'i. Pacific Daily News

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Associated Press

HAGATNA, Guam — Residents of Guam were recovering after a severe typhoon with wind gusts estimated at more than 180 mph flattened parts of the island over the weekend, cutting off all electricity and water.

By late Monday Guam time, civil defense officials had not yet determined the number of people killed, injured or left homeless by Pongsona, which the island on Sunday.

Members of Guam’s Fire Department and the National Guard searched for possible survivors stranded without shelter or transportation.

Public schools, 15 of which were turned into shelters to house more than 2,000 people, remained closed.

The storm also left more than 300 people homeless on Saipan and Rota in the neighboring Northern Mariana Islands, while damaging crops on Rota and Tinian, said officials in the U.S. commonwealth. No major injuries were reported.

An official at Guam Memorial Hospital confirmed at least one death — an elderly woman who was cut badly and went into cardiac arrest. At least five other deaths occurred during the storm, but officials had not determined whether they were linked.

President Bush declared the U.S. territory a federal disaster area on Sunday. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency began preliminary assessments of damage.

Power lines lean precariously over a Guam roadway in the wake of Pongsona. Pacific Daily News

“We’re really here to support all of you,” said David Fukutami, FEMA’s coordinating officer. “We’re going into the long haul here and the weight of the federal family is behind all of us.”

The entire island was without electricity, and water and sewer systems aren’t expected to be fully operational for several weeks, Gov. Carl Gutierrez said Monday.

Pongsona blew across the area for hours. The sustained wind speed estimated at 150 mph around the eye of the storm gave Pongsona “supertyphoon” status. The storm blasted some spots with gusts up to 184 mph, officials said.

Extensive structural damage was reported across the island, but it will be some time before the full extent is known, officials said.

Some walls collapsed at Guam Memorial Hospital, the island’s only civilian hospital, forcing the closure of the pediatrics ward and the intensive care, respiratory and medical telemetry units, hospital administrator David Shimizu said.

A boy looks over upturned cars that the typhoon piled on each other Pacific Daily News

Navy Hospital Guam also reported damage, but its emergency room remained open, said Ensign Mike Morely at U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters in Honolulu.

The storm caused extensive damage and flooding to Naval facilities and housing areas, which were experiencing low to no water pressure, Morely said. Crews were working to bring the Navy’s Fena Water Treatment Facility back on line, he said.

The storm steam rolled about 60 percent of the metal security fences surrounding Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, which remained closed.

Guam Police Department Officials said officers are working to protect residents and business owners who fear looting.

At Pearl Harbor, disaster resources — ranging from ships to generators to water — were being identified for possible shipment to Guam, officials said.

A 19-member Air Force team headed for Guam today to assist in recovery efforts after Typhoon Pongsona.

Active duty troops from the 15th Civil Engineer Squadron and 15th Services squadron departed Hickam Air Force Base this morning, Air Force officials said.

Officials said about $15,000 worth of relief supplies — lumber, fencing, batteries and other construction materials — were being loaded unto several aircraft for transport to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

Hickam personnel last supported typhoon recovery efforts in Guam after Typhoon Chataan swept through the island in July.

Guam is west of the international date line, about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawai'i.

The storm’s eye crossed the northern end of Guam, but the entire island was hit by at least part of the storms’ eye wall, which contains the strongest wind.