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An overturned car is shown at the airport after passing Super Typhoon Yutu in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Friday, October 26, 2018, in Garapan, Saipan. Residents of the US are preparing for months without electricity or running water after the islands were hit by the biggest storm on Thursday, which hit parts of the United States this year. (AP Photo / Dean Sensui)
The federal government sent supplies to super-typhoon-ravaged Pacific US, as residents of the Northern Mariana Islands dug ruined houses, smashed cars and dropped utility poles two days after the storm deadly.
Military planes brought food, water, tarpaulins and other supplies, said Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman David Gervino. The agency is committed to helping restore power, open sea and air ports and ensure that cell towers can run on standby power while waiting for electricity to return. , did he declare.
The Yutu Super Typhoon blew a sustained maximum of 290 km / h (290 mph) when it flew over the islands of Tinian and Saipan on Thursday, the national meteorological service announced. On Saturday, electricity was still cut off on Saipan, the largest island with 50,000 inhabitants, and Tinian, with 3,000 inhabitants, local officials said.
The biggest storm that hit the United States this year was overturning cars, crushing small planes, ripping off roofs and killing a woman who had taken refuge in an abandoned building that had collapsed. Others were injured, including three people needing surgery.
Jan Reyes and his family lost everything.
"Everything my family and I have bought and added to our house over the past 13 years on the flooded floor, all windows in our house have broken," Saipan resident wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
The ceiling of a room has collapsed, destroying all the furniture. A cousin was trapped under debris for seven hours, Reyes said.
His family emerged from the storm in a hotel room, knocking over a bed to create a barricade against wind, rain and debris. When the worst went on, she said it took half an hour to traverse the poles and fallen trees, which normally takes five minutes by car to get to their home.
"However, islanders, we value the family more than anything in the world and we are happier and relieved to see that we are always complete and safe," she said, adding that the inhabitants of the US are " resilient people ".
Michelle Francis is hidden in a closet while the storm has destroyed her home in Saipan, saying in a Facebook message that "many people have lost their homes and belongings." Now everyone is trying to stay strong , to have faith ".
Islanders are used to facing monster storms, but Yutu has been the worst that many have claimed to live.
"One of the unique and remarkable things about the Northern Mariana Islands is that they often have severe weather, the locals here are very resilient," said Gervino, the spokesperson for FEMA. "They listen to the warnings of local officials, they shelter when they ask for it, they make provisions before the storm."
He said that he was convinced that it was the reason why there were not a lot of injuries.
The territory's only hospital, in Saipan, said it had received 133 people in the emergency room on Thursday and that three patients had suffered a serious injury requiring surgery.
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Territorial Delegate to Congress, said that residents will need major help to recover.
FEMA retains a significant amount of food and water in the nearby city of Guam, which was preparing for the typhoon Mangkhut last month. The damage was not as great as expected. This leaves more than 220,000 liters of water and 260,000 meals for the Northern Mariana Islands, located half an hour away by plane.
Guam's military flights began to bring supplies Friday, Gervino said.
The agency is constantly communicating with local authorities on transport, communications, food and water, as well as energy and fuel, Gervino said. FEMA made changes after Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm that hit Puerto Rico last year, creating working groups to attack these areas.
Hurricanes appear to the east of the international time line, while typhoons develop to the west of it. Yutu was a Category 5 storm when he hit.
Commercial flights will not work for some time, said Nadine Deleon Guerrero, spokesperson for the territory's emergency management department. Terminals, tarmac, runway and equipment were damaged.
More than 800 people were in shelters across the islands, and the squares were exhausting, officials said.
Edwin Propst, a member of the House of Representatives of the Territory, explained that many houses had been destroyed because some poor families could not afford to build concrete houses that complied with building codes that were supposed to withstand the typhoon winds. Some build houses with concrete foundations and walls, but with wooden and sheet metal roofs.
Even some concrete houses were crumbling on the small island of Tinian, which was hit hard, said resident Juanita Mendiola.
"We had to hide in the bathroom because the house felt like it was falling apart," she said. "He was literally shaking – a concrete house was shaking."
Reconstruction efforts can not wait, Reyes said, although many expect the recovery to be long.
"The foundation of our culture is altruism and family values and that's what has always helped us through difficult times," she wrote. "We will always be optimistic and prepared for the worst – it's our way of life."
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McAvoy and Kelleher have been reported to Honolulu. Associated Press reporter Caleb Jones contributed to this report.
