By Journal on April 11, 2024
drought, El Nino, US Weather Service, Wilmer Joel, Yap State
News Archive
![Majuro residents of all ages crowd into the Payless water filling facility to buy drinking water. As the El Niño-caused drought has intensified in Majuro, all of the water making businesses have seen long lines of people waiting to fill gallon containers. Photo: Wilmer Joel. Majuro reels from El Niño](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Drought-4-12.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
The Guam-based US National Weather Service issued its weekly update on El Niño conditions throughout the US-affiliated Pacific Islands. Under “Extreme Drought” heading, the US weather update stated: “Extreme Drought persists across islands of Yap State and the northern Marshall Islands. Below normal rainfall is expected for at least the next few weeks, likely a […]
By Journal on February 1, 2024
airport reservoir, Damian Capelle, El Nino, Eve Burns, fresh and salt water service, generators, Japan, Majuro Water and Sewer Company, MEC, Rita to Laura, United Nations Development Program
News Archive
![Backup generators to power water pumps during power outages were donated to Majuro Water and Sewer Company earlier this week at the airport reservoir by Japan and the United Nations Development Program. Photo: Eve Burns. Ensuring water keeps flowing](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/mwsc-2-2.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
Back up generators to power fresh and salt water service in Majuro are soon to be installed so that service can continue despite ongoing power outages, the general manager of the water company says. Majuro Water and Sewer Company GM Damian Capelle got out in front of the problem last year by ordering back up […]
By Journal on January 25, 2024
David Paul, El Nino, Hilda C. Heine, Majuro Water and Sewer Company, Marshalls Energy Company, Power emergency, RMI National Disaster Management Organization
News Archive
![In the foreground is an empty slab where a Marshalls Energy Company warehouse used to sit before it was demolished last year to begin fixing the facility. At the back is the power plant opened in 1982. Photo: Giff Johnson. Heine declares power emergency](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/MEC-1-26.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
The new administration of President Hilda Heine announced two weeks ago that it was intending to declare a state of emergency for the power situation in Majuro. This week, several days after President Heine highlighted the power problem in her inauguration speech at Nitijela Monday, the government moved ahead with this plan. “We are now […]
By Journal on September 20, 2018
drought, El Nino, Pacific ENSO
News Archive
![Heavy rainfall has been the story of the year for Majuro, with roads frequently flooded. Weather forecasters believe there is a good chance of a new El Niño weather condition forming late this year. Photo: Giff Johnson. Rain record, El Niño coming](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/rain-9-21.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
There is a high probability of a new El Niño taking hold in the Marshall Islands and the north Pacific later this year, according to US weather forecasters.
By Journal on April 19, 2018
El Nino, flooding, inundations, king tide
News Archive
![High tides coupled with unusually high sea levels cause inundations. Photo: Hilary Hosia. Lots of ‘nuisance’ flooding](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/High-tide-4-20.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
Majuro and other islands in RMI have seen many “nuisance inundations” since late last year during peak high tides — and such was the case earlier this month during the full moon as drivers traveling along the airport causeway roads had to dodge rocks and debris tossed up by waves. But these recent flooding incidents […]
By Journal on May 5, 2016
Barack Obama, Dan Dieckhaus, drought, El Nino
News Archive
![Residents throughout the Marshall Islands have been spending a good deal of time locating water sources, filling up containers and transporting them to their residences as the extended drought has impacted availability of fresh water. Photo: Isaac Marty. US declares drought disaster](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/drought-5-6.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
President Barack Obama’s Presidential Disaster Declaration (PDD) late last week has opened the doors to additional US federal aid for drought relief in the Marshall Islands. “The PDD allows us to tap into FEMA resources,” said USAID Office for Disaster Assistance Regional Advisor Dan Dieckhaus, who is based at the US Embassy in Majuro. Earlier […]
By Journal on April 21, 2016
drought, El Nino, water
News Archive
![Hundreds of people are making use of fresh water “filling stations” located around Majuro to help out during the extended drought. Photo: Isaac Marty. El Niño water struggles](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/drought-4-22.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
“One of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history remains entrenched across the equatorial Pacific Ocean,” said Guam-based weather officials in their latest drought update. The report said “all locations across the Marshall Islands are in a severe or extreme drought.” They also predict that there will likely be “severe damage to food crops […]
By Journal on April 14, 2016
drought, El Nino, Isaac Marty
News Archive
![Public Works in Majuro established fresh water “filling stations” around the atoll to help people access water during the extended drought. Majuro Atoll Local Government is delivering reverse osmosis-produced drinking water from the College of the Marshall Islands to these filling stations, like this one shown in the Jenrok area. Photo: Isaac Marty. Drought continues unabated](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/drought-4-15.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
As the El Niño-caused drought continues in the north Pacific, all three of the US-affiliated island nations have declared emergency conditions to speed government-provided relief. “Extreme drought continues across much of Micronesia” and is worsening, said Guam-based US National Weather Service officials in a bulletin last week. The Marshall Islands was first to declare a […]
By Journal on January 15, 2016
drought, El Nino, Micronesia, Pacific
Feature Articles
A drought announcement was issued Friday by US Weather officials, describing increasingly dry conditions to be expected in the Marshall Islands, Palau and Yap as a result of one of the worst El Niño’s to hit the Pacific in recent times. Parts of the Marshall Islands are already into a period of “moderate to severe […]
By Journal on November 15, 2015
drought, El Nino, ENSO, rain, RMI, typhoon, weather
News Archive
![The grounds at the Living Water Church at Rairok are feeling the result of little rain: Mostly brown grass with small patches of green. Photo: Brett Schellhase. Weather is ‘extreme and unusual’](https://i0.wp.com/marshallislandsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/el-nino-11-13.jpg?resize=750%2C350&ssl=1)
The El Niño “pendulum” began its long swing back late last month, plunging Majuro and the RMI into the beginning stages of a drought. This does not mean RMI is safely out of the bad weather cycle that has surged around the country throughout the summer. But as the weather system shifts, the RMI has […]