Supertyphoon Paka

    Although it's been a year since Supertyphoon Paka hit Guam, the island still has plenty of reminders.  It's interesting to note that while we were living in Washington state, we had "the worst rainstorm in 100 years" and "the worst snowstorm in 100 years", according to the locals.  Two months after arriving in Guam, Supertyphoon Paka hits, bringing the strongest winds ever recorded.  I may sound paranoid but is there some kind of meteorological hex on us?  You can't blame the San Francisco Earthquake on us though because we moved out of Monterey a couple of weeks before that event!  So since Paka was one of the most exciting events during our tour of Guam, I'll give you a closer glimpse of our experiences.

Before The Storm

    About six weeks before Paka, Supertyphoon Keith passed just north of Guam.  The whole island was getting ready to get slammed by Keith, and frankly, when it came, it was a dud.  We didn't even lose power in our house.  So when the typhoon warnings were being issued for Paka, I think everybody thought it was also going to pass us by.

    The island was put on Typhoon Condition 3 (meaning a typhoon could hit within 48 hours) at about noon on Monday, Dec. 15, 1997.  Will's ship pulled out of port to run away from the storm --- talk about "fair-weather friends"---earlier that day.  I already had a lot of supplies when we were preparing for Keith, and interestingly enough, I bought a generator a couple of weeks after Keith (what a stroke of luck!).  I had heard that we were going to Typhoon Condition 2 (when it's inadvisable to be driving) by 6:00 p.m. so I called Roxanne to see if they were planning to weather the storm at my house, and Bobby, Roxanne's husband, told me that the family was at the beach (now I start to think I'm being a worrywort) but they were planning on coming to my house.

    That night, most of us were still under the impression that Paka was not going to be very bad, so we were pretty laid back, eating dinner, watching TV, and playing games.  The only thing I was worried about was that Will Jr. was scheduled to fly into Guam the next day and I was hoping he didn't have a rough flight (Boy, was I way off!).

The Vigil

    We were put on Typhoon Condition 1 early on the morning of Dec. 16 and the winds got stronger and stronger throughout the day.  The National Weather Service estimated winds at 145 mph with gusts to 175 mph, but Andersen Air Force base later reported that at 4:29 p.m., one gust was clocked at 236 mph, the fastest wind ever clocked on the Earth's surface.  We tried to do normal things but mostly we spent the day watching the storm's progress on TV.

    Will Jr. flew as far as Honolulu, Hawaii, but his flight to Guam was cancelled.  He was supposed to hang out in Hawaii until his flight was cleared to continue into Guam.  That situation would have been OK for me (in fact, I welcome any opportunity to hang out in Hawaii) but since Will Jr. was only 17 years old, he wasn't as capable of enjoying the situation; he couldn't get a hotel room or rent a car and go to the beach.  He would've been stuck roaming around the Honolulu airport, and he would've hated life.  Fortunately, Will's assistant on the ship, Dan Smith, had just arrived in Hawaii to attend some kind of conference, and he was able to meet up and take Will Jr. under his wing.

    The entire island of Guam lost power as of 6:30 p.m.  Danny finally realized the gravity of the situation because now he couldn't play his video games.  The first eye of the storm passed over Guam starting at 8:00 p.m. and the second eye passed around 10:00 p.m.  That was one of the scariest nights of my life.  The wind was howling and although it was dark, we could still see the nearby trees bent almost horizontal or being uprooted.  Everytime we heard a thud on the roof, we wondered if it was a coconut or the whole tree.  It was hard to sleep, and I got up many times during that long night to check the house.

The Aftermath

    We woke up on Wednesday, Dec. 17, to see that the house was intact.  There were some small leaks around a couple of doors and windows and some minor damage to the carpets.  But the devastation outside was incredible.  The trees that were still standing were stripped of leaves, telephone and power poles were down, quonset huts that had survived every kind of natural disaster since the 1940's were completely demolished --- and that was only in my neighborhood!  As soon as the roads were cleared enough to travel on, we drove around and saw how the rest of the island fared.  It was an extremely dismal day.

    Roxanne's house, which the family just moved into the prior month, suffered broken windows and some flooding.  It would've been dangerous for them to stay there so their family stayed at our house.  We used the generator to power our two refrigerators, the microwave, and the electric fans.  Sometimes, we would turn off one of the refrigerators so that Danny could watch videos or play games --- otherwise, he would've driven everybody crazy.  That experience really made me appreciate all of the comforts that I normally took for granted --- like hot showers.

    The Airport was up and running on Thursday afternoon, and Will Jr.'s flight from Hawaii arrived in the middle of the night.  Will's ship was able to pull into port on Friday, as soon as they were able to ascertain that there weren't any newly sunk ships in the harbor that would block their way.  I truly believed that the USS Frank Cable was the best disaster relief service on the island.  As soon as the ship pulled into port, they were providing help for our community.  Crew members helped people with generator operations or repair, cleaned up storm damage, or relocated families out of houses that were too badly damaged.  The ship also provided ice, laundry facilities and meals for our community.  It was also one of the few places on the island that had air conditioning!

    The electricity in our neighborhood was reestablished on Sunday night; five days after the storm.  We lent our generator to Roxanne and her family, and it was a good thing we did because they didn't get their power back for another month.  There were parts of the island that didn't have power until three months after the storm (the governor is really proud because that's record-breaking efficiency for Guam).

    When I look back at that time and consider our five days of inconvenience and the small amount of damage to our home, I thank the Lord for taking care of us.  Whenever I drive around the island, I still see many abandoned buildings that were pulverized by the storm.  Street signs are still missing ... then again, nobody ever used street signs (directions were always given as "turn left at the second Mobil station after the Winchell's in Barrigada"), so this is not a priority item.  The newspapers showed families who are still living in tents a year after the storm.

    We are going to be heading for Pennsylvania in a few months and though we are not going to miss the typhoons, we are going to miss the tropical climate.  And I can't help but wonder about natural disasters.  There aren't any hurricanes or tornados in Pennysylvania, are there?