As of 5:10 p.m., Tuesday, October 10, 2023, Typhoon Bolaven’s eye wall was grazing Rota as an islandwide power outage persists. This is according to information confirmed by Landon Aydlett of the National Weather Service, and Frankie Elliptico of the CNMI governor’s office.
“CUC will make repairs when the all-clear is declared,” Mr. Elliptico said. “All utility personnel hunkered down while on Condition 1.”
The Palacios administration maintains communication with Mayor Aubry Hocog, and emergency operations maintain communication with first responders via incident command in Rota, according to Mr. Elliptico. Communication is uninterrupted, and no major problems aside from the power outage are being reported as of 4:45 p.m.
“They are holding steady for now as the eye approaches and passes,” Mr. Elliptico said at 4:56 p.m.
“Stable right now,” IT&E executive Angela Flores said of IT&E’s network system in Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. “No issues that we know of.”
“The latest update is that Rota is encountering an island-wide power outage,” DOCOMO PACIFIC communications manager Jared Roberto said at 5:10 p.m. “However, our DOCOMO PACIFIC mobile cell sites continue to provide connectivity and data. Without island power, Rota customers should expect interruption in their home services.
“Tinian and Saipan remain connected to the island’s power grid and DOCOMO PACIFIC services are online and available.”
“Right now – I’m eyeing a north bound passage,” Mr. Aydlett said at 5:02 p.m. “Eye is beginning to pass just north of Rota. I see no indication for any part of the eye to pass over rota, but instead, much of rota will be in the eye wall for a period of time.”
