Northern villages assess minor storm damage
Northern mayors are reporting damages such as downed vegetation and downed power lines - but the biggest issue is flooding.
July 31, 2014Updated: July 31, 2014
By KUAM News
By KUAM News by Jolene Toves
Guam - It was the biggest storm to date that tested Guam's resilience. It was early Wednesday afternoon that Tropical Storm Halong made its closest point of approach to the island, bringing heavy rains and destructive winds which reached 65 mph.
But even after the storm passed, rains and winds continued causing damage throughout the island. In the northern part of Guam village mayors are reporting damages such as downed vegetation, downed power lines but the biggest issue is flooding, which is creating an inconvenience for motorists as many of them are having to find alternate routes.
For residents in Yigo such as the Cruz family, the flooding issue has been a recurring problem, which forced them to evacuate their home during last year's storm. Yigo mayor Rudy Matanane told KUAM News, "They got flooded out they decided to just wait it out and it was very fortunate that the flood wasn't as bad as last year."
Complaints about rising water taking over homes flooded the Yigo Mayor's Office as Matanane says Route 9, the Bordallo Subdivision and about ten other areas saw significant flooding. Now that the storm has passed, the focus is now recovery in Yigo, where Matanane says he and his crew are trying their best to address all the damages.
"As far as the residents concerned there was a lot of residents calling concerning flooding, trees down and most especially on the main roads," he said. "But those kind of problems we manage to work on it and have my crew constantly addressing those kind of issues. I think that we have funding of about $136,000 to fix the problem behind the Bordallo Subdivision although we evacuated only one family there is nine residents that are involved in that mitigation."
Damages were also reported in Dededo, as mayor Melissa Savares conducted her assessment yesterday. "Of course," she said, "we still had a lot of flooding and so some vehicles got in the flooded areas we have a few homes who had tin roofs that kind of their roofs had gone because of the heavy wind."
Savares says many homes in her village became flooded adding that her office is trying to assist them in getting tarps as a temporary solution. In addition to assisting residents her crews have been out removing fallen debris such as trees from roadways and cleaning the drainages so that standing water may recede.
Guam - It was the biggest storm to date that tested Guam's resilience. It was early Wednesday afternoon that Tropical Storm Halong made its closest point of approach to the island, bringing heavy rains and destructive winds which reached 65 mph.
But even after the storm passed, rains and winds continued causing damage throughout the island. In the northern part of Guam village mayors are reporting damages such as downed vegetation, downed power lines but the biggest issue is flooding, which is creating an inconvenience for motorists as many of them are having to find alternate routes.
For residents in Yigo such as the Cruz family, the flooding issue has been a recurring problem, which forced them to evacuate their home during last year's storm. Yigo mayor Rudy Matanane told KUAM News, "They got flooded out they decided to just wait it out and it was very fortunate that the flood wasn't as bad as last year."
Complaints about rising water taking over homes flooded the Yigo Mayor's Office as Matanane says Route 9, the Bordallo Subdivision and about ten other areas saw significant flooding. Now that the storm has passed, the focus is now recovery in Yigo, where Matanane says he and his crew are trying their best to address all the damages.
"As far as the residents concerned there was a lot of residents calling concerning flooding, trees down and most especially on the main roads," he said. "But those kind of problems we manage to work on it and have my crew constantly addressing those kind of issues. I think that we have funding of about $136,000 to fix the problem behind the Bordallo Subdivision although we evacuated only one family there is nine residents that are involved in that mitigation."
Damages were also reported in Dededo, as mayor Melissa Savares conducted her assessment yesterday. "Of course," she said, "we still had a lot of flooding and so some vehicles got in the flooded areas we have a few homes who had tin roofs that kind of their roofs had gone because of the heavy wind."
Savares says many homes in her village became flooded adding that her office is trying to assist them in getting tarps as a temporary solution. In addition to assisting residents her crews have been out removing fallen debris such as trees from roadways and cleaning the drainages so that standing water may recede.