Posted at 6:35 p.m., Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Twelve survive Hurricane Ioke on Johnston Island
Advertiser staff and news services
Twelve people aboard an Air Force research ship that took shelter on Johnston Island during Hurricane Ioke this afternoon are fine and headed back to the ship's home port on O'ahu, according to the Coast Guard.The 96-foot vessel called The Searcher was near Johnston Island Tuesday apparently doing repair work for the island when the hurricane moved into the area, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Marsha Delaney.
Yesterday afternoon, the Coast Guard flew a C-130 plane over the island and dropped radios. The antenna on the group's ship had come down during the storm, cutting off communication.
"The master (of the ship) reported that the vessel is fine, everybody is fine and that they're making arrangements to leave Johnston Island some time today and head back to Oahu," Delaney said.
Those arrangements include moving everything they took to the bunker back to their ship and double-checking the vessel to make sure it is OK, Delaney said.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Luke Clayton said it's unclear when The Searcher will arrive back in Honolulu.
Two Coast Guard boats that were being dispatched to the island in case the group's vessel was damaged have been called off and will likely be sent home, Delaney said.
The group took shelter in a bunker designed to withstand a category four hurricane on the island.
Winds in the category two Hurricane Ioke were near 105 miles per hour with higher gusts yesterday as it slowly moved away to the northwest of the island, according to the weather service's Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.
At 11 a.m. yesterday, Ioke was centered about 130 miles northwest of the island, or about 890 miles west-southwest of Honolulu.
Johnston Island, which is part of part of the isolated Johnston Atoll, is uninhabited. It is under the primary jurisdiction and control of the U.S. Air Force. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a national wildlife refuge there.
The atoll has been used by the U.S. military for weapons tests and as the site of a chemical weapons disposal plant. During the 1950s, nuclear warheads were detonated high above the islands. The chemical disposal unit was shut down and its military personnel removed in June 2004, according to the Web site of the Air Force's 15th Airlift Wing.
