Typhoon Bolaven comes 4 ½ months after Super Typhoon Mawar hurtled into Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, the region’s worst weather event since 2002. (Joint Typhoon Warning Center)
Typhoon Bolaven slid past Guam on Tuesday, drifting northeast at the last minute as the island braced for another bout of heavy rains, flash floods and strong winds.
The storm, with winds of 80 mph, comes 4 ½ months after Super Typhoon Mawar hurtled into Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, the region’s worst weather event since 2002.
Guam was in Condition of Readiness 1 with a flash flood warning in effect until 4:15 p.m. Tuesday. Between 1 and 1.8 inches of rain had already fallen with another 2 to 3.6 inches expected, Guam’s Joint Information Center said in a Tuesday afternoon news release.
The center anticipated 1.5 feet of rainfall between sunrise Tuesday and Wednesday morning and winds of tropical storm force — 39 mph or more — through Tuesday evening.
Bolaven was forecast to continue northwest and pass between the islands of Rota and Tinian about 75 miles northeast of Guam.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero on Sunday declared a state of emergency for Guam as Bolaven approached, and President Joe Biden the following day approved her request for a disaster declaration in response to the storm.
Joint Region Marianas, which oversees military installations on Guam, said it applied “previous lessons learned” and was “well postured to weather the storm and begin recovery operations as soon as possible,” according to a Monday post on the command’s Facebook page.
“I know we are still recovering from Typhoon Mawar and another storm can feel overwhelming,” Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, commander of Joint Region Marianas, said in the post. “We are fortunate to be working hand-in-hand with our federal and territory partners to provide a whole-of-government approach, if required.”
At Andersen Air Force Base, airmen had prepared for the storm’s arrival since Sunday and took the “necessary precautionary steps,” according to base spokeswoman 1st Lt. Ariana Wilkinson.
“We have been able to sufficiently protect our airmen, assets and facilities which will keep us mission-ready, post-storm,” she told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday.
Spokespeople for Joint Region Marianas, Naval Base Guam and Marine Corps Camp Blaz did not immediately respond to calls and emails requesting comment Tuesday.
Bases on Guam as recently as September were still short of a complete recovery in the aftermath of Mawar, according to Joint Region Marianas spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Katie Koenig.
“While some facilities and services are still temporarily displaced due to pending infrastructure and repairs, all of our operations have resumed,” she told Stars and Stripes in a Sept. 8 email.
Andersen’s passenger terminal, for example, sustained “significant damage” from the storm, primarily from flooding, leaking and high winds, Wilkinson said in a Sept. 18 email. As a result, the terminals’ operations were relocated to a hangar.
“The overall plan for the recovery program is to not only repair what was damaged as a result of the typhoon but to also build the installation back with resiliency in mind so that the base is better able to withstand the next typhoon and recover quickly,” she said.
The terminal relocated a second time, to a series of portable buildings, due to planned renovations, Wilkinson said. The Patriot Express, a government contracted air service, departed from the new location for the first time on Sept. 2.
