Food shortage looms on Agrihan, Alamagan

Supertyphoon Songda severely battered the tiny populated islands of Agrihan, Alamagan and Pagan, destroying houses and wiping out crops. A food shortage looms on the first two islands, as remaining stock of food and water remained low.

The Emergency Operations Center said that there were no reports of casualties from the supertyphoon on the three islands.

Recent reports reaching the EOC said some 36 people reside on the three islands—13 on Agrihan, 12 on Alamagan, and 11 on Pagan.

EOC public information officer Jenn Castro said Agrihan’s residents only had 10 gallons of water remaining as of yesterday afternoon, while those at Alamagan only had about a week’s supply of water. Food supplies on the two islands were low, she said.

Castro said a team from the Emergency Management Office would fly to the two islands today via helicopter to augment food stock and water supply for residents. She said the Commonwealth Health Center would also send medical supplies to the three northern islands.

Songda totally destroyed two houses and blew away roofs of two other houses on Alamagan and Agrihan. The supertyphoon totally damaged the islands’ crops.

On Pagan, Castro said two houses were destroyed, while a boat was totally damaged. The island, however, has food supply that is expected to last for about three months.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta lifted his typhoon condition declaration on Pagan and Agrihan on Wednesday night.

Although Songda’s winds remained strong at 145mph, it was already moving away from the islands at that time. As of 7pm Wednesday, the EMO said Songda was about 140 miles north-northwest of Pagan and about 160 miles north-northwest of Alamagan.

About 1am yesterday, Songda maintained its wind strength while moving west-northwest at 17mph. The typhoon’s center at that time was about 215 miles northwest of Agrihan, the EMO said. More than an hour later the governor also lifted the typhoon condition declaration for the island.

Songda, the wind strength of which reached up to 150mph, spared Saipan and Tinian from storm winds late Tuesday night to early Monday morning, with the EOC reporting no major damage resulting from the typhoon, except for the temporary evacuation of some 148 residents to Saipan shelters due to heavy rains that caused flooding.

The typhoon also caused an explosion at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. early Wednesday morning, but the utility firm managed to restore power supply by noontime to pre-Songda level.