Parts of islands in Pacific could be without power for weeks after super typhoon

Some hard-hit areas of the Northern Marianas could be without power and water for weeks after the Pacific Ocean islands were battered by a super typhoon, an official said.

The only hospital on Saipan, an island in the archipelago, suffered severe flooding and there were reports of major resorts that lost back-up generators, said Ed Propst, a former politician who works in the governor’s office.

“It’s pretty bad conditions right now,” he said, adding that residents were bracing for a long stretch without electricity and water.

Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by Super Typhoon Sinlaku.

The storm first hit the islands on Tuesday night local time and continued with a barrage of fierce winds and relentless rain for hours on Wednesday that flipped over cars, toppled utility poles and ripped away tin roofs. So far, there have been no reports of deaths.

Power and water were out and many of the roads were impassable across Saipan and Tinian, islands in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, home to about 45,000 people, according to officials.

“We still have a shelter in place so first responders have not been able to do a full damage assessment,” Bernard Villagomez, public information officer for the territory’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said in a text message to the Associated Press on Thursday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency planned to send more personnel to the region and ramp up shipments of supplies.

The storm also battered Guam, another US territory and the site of several American military bases, with tropical force winds.

The typhoon — the strongest tropical cyclone this year — was packing sustained winds of up to 150mph when it made landfall on the islands, the National Weather Service said.

The monster storm still had winds of 125mph late Wednesday night as it pulled away to the north from the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, the weather service said. Sinlaku is expected start curving towards sparsely populated volcanic islands in the far northern Marianas.

The storm was about 170 miles north-west of Saipan on Thursday, the weather service said. Many sensors on the island were down, but the weather service estimated winds were about 60-70mph.

The winds made it unsafe to go outside, but some stores were open on Tinian on Thursday and people were rushing to purchase supplies, said resident Mathew Masga.

“While driving around, I noticed numerous wooden and semi-concrete houses with damaged rooftops due to the passing typhoon,” he said in a Facebook message to AP. “Notably, many of our power poles and power lines are down.”

The American Red Cross and its partners were sheltering more than 1,000 residents across Guam and the Northern Marianas, agency spokesperson Stephanie Fox said.