Thursday’s storm was the strongest to hit any part of the United States this year. It ripped off roofs, overturned cars, toppled trees and killed a woman who took shelter in an abandoned building that collapsed. Others were injured, including three people who needed surgery.
The airport sustained significant damage to buildings, and several crumpled, small planes were scattered around the tarmac. Officials said the airport is still mostly without power, and the Transportation Security Administration has only one working scanning machine. Baggage and cargo may have to be examined by hand, the statement said.
All airports on Saipan, Tinian and Rota were closed due to the storm. The airport on Tinian remains closed except to military planes. Rota’s airport is now open.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday all ports in the Northern Mariana Islands have also reopened.
Commander of Coast Guard Sector Guam Capt. Christopher Chase said in a statement that crews were working to assess and restore shipping access to make sure supplies can reach the islands. The Coast Guard is also working with local officials in search and rescue operations.
A Coast Guard airplane from Hawaii flew over Saipan and reported minimal damage to shipping lanes.
The U.S. government is sending supplies to the Northern Marianas as residents dig through the wreckage.
“The rebuilding of this island is beginning already as time waits for nobody,” Jan Reyes, who lives on the territory’s most populated island of Saipan, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Despite the casualties, we the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are resilient people.”
To help the recovery, military planes brought in food, water, tarps and other supplies.
U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman David Gervino said the agency is focused on helping restore power, opening sea and air ports, and ensuring cellphone towers can operate on emergency power until electricity returns.
Super Typhoon Yutu packed maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 kph) as it passed over the islands of Tinian and Saipan, the National Weather Service said. By Saturday, power was still out across Saipan, with 50,000 residents, and Tinian, with 3,000 people.
Many homes were destroyed because some families can’t afford concrete homes that conform to building codes meant to withstand typhoon winds, said Edwin Propst, a member of the territory’s House of Representatives.
Some people build houses with concrete foundations and walls, but the structures have wooden or tin roofs.
The territory’s only hospital, in Saipan, said it saw 133 people in its emergency room Thursday, and three patients had severe injuries that needed surgery.
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the territory’s delegate to Congress, said residents will need major help and many months to recover.
FEMA has 220,000 liters of water and 260,000 meals stored on Guam for shipment to the Northern Marianas, a half-hour plane ride away.
FEMA made changes after Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm that struck Puerto Rico last year, creating task forces to tackle those needs.
More than 800 people were in shelters across the islands, and space was running out, officials said.
Saipan is a popular tourist destination for visitors from China and South Korea, just a few hours away by plane. Some 650,000 tourists visited in the 2017 fiscal year, according to the Marianas Visitors Authority.
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