Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the government should look into hardening its power and water infrastructure so that distribution and supply won\u2019t be affected if ever another strong typhoon hits the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government should seriously look into the hardening of our infrastructure such as generators near wells and pumps once we\u2019re back on our feet again,\u201d Manglona told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Two destructive storms passed by the CNMI in a span of almost two month, with Typhoon Mangkhut hitting Rota on Sept. 10, while Super Typhoon Yutu pummeled Saipan and Tinian last October.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to expect a typhoon every year [and] we should always be prepared for situations like this,\u201d said Manglona, adding that everyone should have water a day after every major typhoon.<\/p>\n
What happened to the $4.5 million that the federal government gave the CNMI to make its water infrastructures typhoon-resilient? That\u2019s what Manglona would like to know.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why one of the things that I asked during our last session is why is it that we still don\u2019t use the $4.5 million that the federal [government] gave us to put generators around the 100 wells that we have and encase them in concrete buildings?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat project is still not complete. We need to do that right away, beginning today, so that when the next typhoon comes, water, unlike electricity, should be restored within a day or two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting the water wells and pumps operating became one of the concerns after Yutu\u2019s destruction, with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and federal partners like the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. military working hard to provide water.<\/p>\n
Manglona added although it is a bit expensive, the government should also study the possibility of having the island\u2019s power lines buried. \u201cThat\u2019s something that we have to look into\u2026especially in critical areas in the main highways and roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management public information officer Nadine Deleon Guerrero said in an earlier interview that burying power cables had been discussed but the focus now is restoring power to the entire island.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, our main focus is recovery and relief. Until we get those, at least the temporary fix of wooden power poles in place, that would definitely be back on the table,\u201d she said. \u201cAt this point, we are just focused on getting the power and water running.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manglona pointed out, though, that water is an important resource. \u201cWe need to work on that first. Put those wells in place and protect them from the typhoon. So, that in a day or two after a typhoon, everyone should have water. We can talk a lot of many things that we want to do, but at least focus in water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manglona said that Rota did not have any problems with its water supply and distribution on Rota after Mangkhut.\u201dThe federal [government] gave us almost $5 million\u2026I think we should do that right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rota returning to normal<\/strong><\/p>\n Manglona also said the situation on Rota is going back to normal two months after Mangkhut. \u201cWater and power are now back on the island. The people are trying to work on their homes by repairing them\u2026with the assistance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Things are moving along.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the government should look into hardening its power and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,22304,50,22618],"class_list":["post-288732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-nadine-deleon-guerrero","tag-power","tag-typhoon-mangkhut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}