31 photos show the devastation in the Northern Mariana Islands after Super Typhoon Yutu made a direct hit as a Category 5 storm
At least one person has been confirmed dead from Yutu in the Northern Mariana Islands. A 44-year-old woman died after taking shelter in an abandoned building on Saipan, which collapsed.
"This is an unfortunate incident, but CNMI and federal partners continue to focus on life-saving and life-sustaining operations," the governor's office said in a statement.
Source: The Weather Channel
Several people have been injured, Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the commonwealth's Congressional delegate, said, though he couldn't give a specific number of casualties.
Source: AP
Sablan said he's heard reports of people lining up at Saipan's hospital to be treated for injuries sustained in the storm.
Source: AP
Sablan said he has not been able to reach officials on the islands of Tinian and Rota since the phones and electricity are out.
Source: AP
"There's a lot of damage and destruction," Sablan said. "It's like a small war just passed through."
Source: AP
President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in the Northern Mariana Islands ahead of the storm to free up federal resources to help the islands recover.
Source: AP
Satellite imagery showed the eye passing directly over Tinian, a small island of a little more than 3,000 residents, just after midnight Thursday morning.
Source: Business Insider
Brandon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said both Saipan and Tinian will be unrecognizable after the storm.
Source: AP
"This is the worst-case scenario. This is why the building codes in the Marianas are so tough," Aydlett said. "This is going to be the storm which sets the scale for which future storms are compared to."
Source: AP
Glen Hunter, 45, who was lived on Saipan since childhood, said Yutu was the worst storm he has ever experienced.
Source: AP
College student Fariha Omar was in the middle of class in Boston on Wednesday when she got a Facebook message from her family on Saipan, telling her that the windows in their home had burst during the storm.
Source: Honolulu Civil Beat
"Basically all the windows in my house imploded, debris flew into my house, air conditioners were ripped out of the walls," Omar told Honolulu Civil Beat. "They got some cuts and scratches trying to find a safe place within the house."
Source: Honolulu Civil Beat
Guam National Weather Service Meteorologist Paul Stanko said the storm wiped out their wind instruments at the Saipan airport.
Source: Honolulu Civil Beat
Stanko said the eye of the storm stretched from Saipan to Guam, completely enveloping Tinian.
Source: Honolulu Civil Beat
"It was almost as big as the Marianas," Stanko said. "On the US mainland they would have of course evacuated people, but it's much harder to evacuate people from islands. We just have to lock ourselves in and weather it out."
Source: Honolulu Civil Beat
Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas told Reuters that many homes on the island have been destroyed and "critical infrastructure has been compromised."
Source: Reuters
"We currently have no power and water at this time and our ports are inaccessible," San Nicolas added.
Source: Reuters
Dr. Philip Dauterman, who lives on Saipan, said that on the way to work after the storm, he noticed a car dealership that had a collapsed wall.
Source: The Guam Daily Post
"This requires Category 5 winds to do this," Dauterman told The Guam Daily Post. "Lesser winds won't collapse concrete walls."
Source: The Guam Daily Post
The islands are now waiting for shipments of food, supplies, and emergency personnel.
Source: Reuters
Nadine Deleon Guerrero, a spokeswoman for the commonwealth's emergency management agency, said that they are in the process of “deploying resources to clear our roadways so first responders can begin assisting residents who have lost their homes and for those who need transport to seek medical attention or transportation to the nearest shelter.”
Source: AP
A Korean woman posted a picture showing flood damage at the Kanoa Resort on Saipan after the storm.
Source: Instagram
"Last night was stressful at the hotel, where the glass flew out, the tiles flew off, the structures collapsed. Now the island is coming to life, just like we," the woman wrote.
Source: Instagram
The typhoon will no doubt have an impact on the Northern Mariana Islands tourism industry, which is a major driver of their economy.
Source: CIA
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