Marianas escapes worst of typhoon

SAIPAN – The Northern Marianas appears to have withstood the torrential rains and howling winds of Typhoon Champi as the storm continues to move away from the islands.

Governor Eloy Inos has maintained Tropical Storm Condition One on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, while lifting the storm warning on Pagan, Alamagan, and Agrihan in the Northern Islands.

There were reports of flooding in low-lying areas of Saipan, and an island-wide blackout occurred during the height of the storm as nine power poles of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation went down.

Over 300 people sought refuge in evacuation centres as Champi approached the Marianas on Friday afternoon, American Red Cross-NMI chapter executive director John Hirsh said.

He said some of the evacuation centre were full by Thursday evening, but as of Saturday morning, most were closed as people went back to their homes.

“ There was flooding in other areas so we sent our teams to those villages to provide basic assistance and meet emergency needs.”

Hirsh said volunteers were in residential areas on Sunday to help put up the tents that were taken down when it was first announced that Champi was headed toward the Marianas on Thursday.

Hirsh said AmeriCorps volunteers were also working with the American Red Cross to provide additional tarpaulins for those whose homes were damaged by Typhoon Soudelor.

Hirsh said before Soudelor people did not really take storm warnings seriously.

“Before Soudelor, the last typhoon to hit the island was Jean on April 11, 1968.

“I can see that people took the storm warnings seriously as so many filled up their gas tanks on Thursday evening and bought food,” Hirsh said. “I think people were worried that the storm would be another Soudelor.”