GIFF JOHNSON
A storm blew into Majuro unexpectedly early afternoon Monday following a beautiful sunny morning, typical of most days of the year in Majuro — another demonstration of the powerful El Niño now controlling weather conditions in the region.
The heavy winds and rain out of the south ripped roof tops off, sending tins flying across roads and around school yards. The winds kept picking up, and by mid-afternoon, lagoon waves energized by the storm winds hundreds of miles north of Majuro pushed ships and yachts aground along the downtown shoreline.
A huge tree fell across the road by the Bigler residence near the MAWC landfill, halting all traffic until a team of neighborhood volunteers could pull branches and trunk back enough to reopen the road. A big tree was knocked over in the Batkan area, causing a nearly 12-hour outage for the area from the power plant to Arrak.
Although the Journal heard complaints voiced about the lack of forewarning, it appeared to us that weather officials didn’t see it coming either. The Monday morning daily weather forecast issued at 5:16am by the RMI National Weather Service noted “a weak, low pressure system is still located north of Kwajalein this evening with gentle to moderate westerlies, becoming light to gentle upon reaching Majuro.”
At 5:43pm Monday, while the south and westerly winds were buffeting Majuro, the National Weather Service issued an “updated” forecast that added in red typeface: “…Gale warning in effect until 3am CHST Tuesday…”
“Gale” winds define wind speed from 39 to 54 miles per hour.
After 9pm Monday night, the RMI’s National Disaster Management Office issued a text message warning: “Gusty winds/hazardous marine conditions affected Majuro and the nearby atolls. Conditions expected: 20-30 knots and gusts up to 30 knots till tomorrow morning…do not venture into the ocean or lagoon.”
By this time Monday night, most of the damage had been done and the winds had abated to a degree.
Guam’s National Weather Service, which monitors the North Pacific region, issued an update Tuesday night: “Southwest to west winds will prevail across Republic of Palau, FSM, RMI along and south of 11 degrees north. Brief gusty winds are possible across the region, particularly near weak disturbances.”
Many schools closed Tuesday as a precaution due to concern about continuing high winds and heavy rains.
By Wednesday, winds had calmed and returned to a normal level of island trades.
But the lagoon continued to show rough currents from the winds coming in from the south and west into Wednesday.
Various vessels had been blown off moorings Monday and were hard aground along Majuro’s shoreline from Delap to Rita.
Tuesday, barely a day after Monday’s high winds had knocked out power island-wide for hours, more power outages hit. First in the morning, there were off-and-on outages downtown. Then just before 4pm, power unexpectedly went off for both MEC Feeders 2 and 3 — these affect the power plant to Ejit Island and power plant to hospital line that also links various government buildings, including the ICC, in the Delap area, respectively.
MEC in a mast text said the power was “shut down due to a sudden gust of wind” affecting power lines and the company’s grid system.
At 9pm Tuesday, MEC further updated: “Outage update as of 6:22pm. Our team attempted to restore Feeder 3 (hospital line), but it tripped again. Crews are now inspecting underground manholes and checking overhead lines for branches or debris. Feeder 2 will be restored soon once all safety checks are complete.”