Widespread flooding hits NMI

Heavy rains associated with Supertyphoon Chaba flooded several villages and at least one evacuation center on Saipan yesterday. It also caused the Susupe Lake to overflow, forcing the evacuation of residents to safer grounds. The number of evacuees staying in government shelters has already reached 1,011.

As this developed, Gov. Juan N. Babauta yesterday declared a State of Public Health Emergency in the CNMI, following reports of major damage to health facilities on Saipan and Rota. Torrential rains also flooded the Rota Health Center.

The CNMI Emergency Operations Center reported a person who went missing at Saipan’s Grotto, and another who died of still undetermined cause on Rota. Three persons reportedly sustained minor injuries on Saipan and Tinian.

As of 2pm yesterday, the EOC reported that the volume of rain reached over five inches on Saipan and over eight inches on Rota. Heavy rain yesterday afternoon was expected to exacerbate the flooding by adding at least two inches of rainfall.

The EOC strongly advised people to refrain from going out unless necessary. If they have to, it advised motorists against driving on flooded roads. Some roads in Susupe were temporarily closed yesterday due to flooding.

The EOC sent emergency response teams to help evacuate those residing near the Susupe Lake, which overflowed its banks and sent waist-deep waters inside nearby houses. The floodwaters reached up to about a hundred meters of the access road to Susupe Lake, which rendered the street impassable.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta visited the area with the emergency response teams to persuade people to evacuate. He said that some did not want to leave their homes and had to be convinced first.

At least seven persons residing near the lake took refuge at the Marianas High School, according to acting principal Joseph Borja. The number of evacuees at MHS increased to 281, which included those who initially stayed at the San Vicente Elementary School. Evacuees staying at the San Vicente Elementary School had to be relocated after heavy rains flooded the shelter.

The supertyphoon and the flood situation displaced about 822 Saipan residents as of yesterday. The number of evacuees on Rota’s shelters increased to 145, while that on Tinian reached 44.

The EOC said the high number of evacuees filled most of the evacuation shelters to capacity. Only MHS, Garapan Elementary School, and the Tanapag Elementary School remained available for additional evacuees as of yesterday.

EOC information and planning chief Tony Calvo said the Northern Marianas College and the Ada Gymnasium would be opened to accommodate evacuees, who would be relocated from the current shelters to give way for the resumption of classes in public schools.

Education commissioner Rita Inos said public schools would resume classes possibly late this week, directing school principals and staff to report for work beginning today to assist in cleaning up classrooms.

The PSS began assessing the readiness of the classrooms yesterday, as it awaits the restoration of power and water supply on different schools.

Inos said classes will resume once everything is ready and there is power and water in schools.

Meanwhile, the NMC Lab School cancelled its classes for the entire week, setting their resumption on Monday.

FOOD AND FUEL SHORTAGES ON ROTA

Rota Mayor Benjamin Manglona said food stock and fuel supply on the island were running low. He urged the private sector to ship into the island needed replenishment.

Rota appeared to be the worst hit by Chaba, leaving many houses destroyed, agricultural crops wiped out, and power lines totally downed.

“Private shippers are urged to bring food stuffs, particularly staples such as sugar, rice, flour, milk, canned goods, and cooking oil…as inventories of these items are low [on] Rota,” Manglona said.

In a local disaster declaration, the mayor urged the island’s business establishments to provide goods and services to meet emergency needs.

When donations could not be made, the mayor said the municipality would reimburse the cost of goods and services. He stressed, however, that cash could not be demanded of the municipality.

Manglona said the municipality has an extremely limited budget, citing the need to empower him with unlimited reprogramming authority as entailed by his local disaster declaration. The mayor also sought the help of the Rota Legislative Delegation to identify funds that could be reprogrammed to meet the island’s emergency needs.

The emergency situation has been draining the fuel supply on the island, prompting the mayor to ask oil companies to ship in additional supply as soon as possible.

“Fuel supplies for diesel, gasoline, and kerosene are becoming low and the fuel supplies may not even be able to get projects to Rota for about two weeks or more,” Manglona said.

The EOC reported that Rota remained without power; it said restoration work might take about two weeks to complete.

“The Rota generator will need to be dried out and transmission lines assessed and repaired before power restoration,” the EOC said.

Commonwealth Utilities Corp. deputy executive director Bernard Villagomez and four other technical personnel already flew to Rota for the restoration work, said EOC’s Calvo, who added that crewmen from Guam would arrive today on Rota to help in the efforts.

The EOC said, however, that water supply on the island has been 75-percent restored.

RESTORATION WORK CONTINUES

Restoration work continued despite the heavy rains, reducing the extent of Saipan’s island-wide power and water outages.

The EOC reported that Saipan’s power has been 65-percent restored, while that of Tinian had 15 percent restoration. EOC’s Calvo said full power restoration on Tinian would take four days, while that of Saipan would take two days. The CUC also restored 35 percent of Saipan’s water supply; Tinian, 50 percent; and Rota, 75 percent, according to Calvo.

The Saipan International Airport, however, faces water problem, as its 100,000-gallon reservoir would be soon depleted, according to the EOC.

Yesterday’s heavy rains also resulted in about 65 percent of Saipan’s manholes overflowing with sewage.

“More debris clearance [are] needed due to damaged trees along roadways,” the EOC said. “Main roads are flooded.”

The downpour also hampered flights of emergency personnel from Saipan to Tinian. The EOC, however, managed to send a team to Rota to enhance coordination of response activities.

The governor quickly declared a state of emergency in the Commonwealth even before Chaba left the islands Monday afternoon and asked President Bush to expeditiously declare the CNMI a major disaster area. Babauta said the destruction caused by the supertyphoon was so severe that local resources would not be enough to support recovery efforts. As of yesterday, the CNMI still awaits the President’s response to the request.

The governor also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a Joint Federal/State Rapid Needs Assessment on damage caused by the typhoon. Initial estimates placed the damage at over $18 million.

Chaba unleashed its fury beginning 6pm Sunday night, with howling winds escalating from 110mph to 145mph at dawn Monday. Heavy rain accompanied the winds from Sunday night to early Monday morning, resulting in floods on several portions of the islands. Torrential rains continued until yesterday, as Chaba moved farther away from the Northern Marianas.