Islands regain some air, sea access after monster storm
Some airport and shipping access has returned to a U.S. Pacific territory ravaged by a supertyphoon, but tens of thousands of residents still without power and sifting through rubble face a long road to recovery.
Saipan International Airport reopened with limited service today after Super Typhoon Yutu slammed the Northern Mariana Islands last week as a Category 5 storm.
A statement posted on the Facebook page of Northern Marianas Gov. Ralph Torres said the airport will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. but will receive only six international flights per day. Inbound flights are restricted to residents and humanitarian aid, the statement said.
Thursday’s storm was the strongest to hit any part of the United States this year. It ripped off roofs, overturned cars, toppled trees and killed a woman who took shelter in an abandoned building that collapsed. Others were injured, including three people who needed surgery.
The airport sustained significant damage to buildings, and several crumpled, small planes were scattered around the tarmac.
Officials said the airport is still mostly without power, and the Transportation Security Administration has only one working scanning machine. Baggage and cargo may have to be examined by hand, the statement said.
All airports on Saipan, Tinian and Rota were closed because of the storm. The airport on Tinian remains closed except to military planes. Rota’s airport is now open.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday all ports in the Northern Mariana Islands also have reopened.
Commander of Coast Guard Sector Guam Capt. The home of Edwin Propst on Saturday after Super Typhoon Yutu swept through the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands earlier last week.
Christopher Chase said in a statement that crews were working to assess and restore shipping access to make sure supplies can reach the islands. The Coast Guard also is working with local officials in search and rescue operations.
A Coast Guard airplane from Hawaii flew over Saipan and reported minimal
damage to shipping lanes.
The U.S. government is sending supplies to the Northern Marianas as residents dig through the wreckage.
“The rebuilding of this island is beginning already as time waits for nobody,” Jan Reyes, who lives on the territory’s most populated Management Agency spokesman David Gervino said the agency is focused on helping restore power, opening sea and air ports, and ensuring cellphone towers can operate on emergency power until electricity returns.
Super Typhoon Yutu packed maximum sustained winds of 180 mph as it passed over the islands of Tinian and Saipan, the National Weather Service said. By Saturday, power was still out across Saipan, with 50,000 residents, and Tinian, with 3,000 people.
Many homes were destroyed because some families can’t afford concrete homes that conform to building codes meant to withstand typhoon winds, said Edwin Propst, a member of the territory’s House of Representatives.
Some people build houses with concrete foundations and walls, but the structures have wooden or tin roofs.