Arnold Palacios and Franklin Babauta will be heading to Rota as soon as the storm clears to assess any recovery needs of the people and their infrastructure, the CNMI governor confirmed at a 1:30 p.m. public briefing on Typhoon Bolaven. And while the center of the typhoon is now expected to pass closest to Rota, Mr. Palacios is monitoring Bolaven’s impact on Tinian and Saipan as well.
The governor and Mr. Babauta, the special assistant in charge of CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management, were joined by Betty Terlaje of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation to provide the latest on the operations of the utilities on the three major islands of the CNMI.
Ms. Terlaje asked that people remain off the roads as crews need efficient access to their sites to make repairs in the wake of Bolevan, if repairs need to be made.
Mr. Palacios said he spoke with Rota’s mayor, Aubry Hocog, around 1 p.m. and the mayor assured him every possible effort had been taken to prepare for the onset of destructive winds on the island.
Charles Manglona, a resident of Rota, said that as of 2 p.m., power and water services remained operational, and that rains and winds had increased.
At about 12:30 p.m., the National Weather Service confirmed Bolevan had become a typhoon, and that its path had veered south toward Rota. At the time, the typhoon’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at about 80 mph.
NWS Guam chief meteorologist Landon Aydlett will be livestreaming a public briefing with the latest information on the storm at 3 p.m. Kandit will be carrying the livecast.
