By Trina A. San Agustin
Variety News Staff

THE National Weather Service cancelled the typhoon warning for Guam last night.
As of 8 p.m. Monday, damaging winds from Typhoon Kong-Rey were no longer expected on Guam.
Kong-Rey, a Cambodian term meaning “legendary lady,” was moving northwest at 15 miles per hour toward Saipan last night, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and expected to continue to intensify overnight.
Troy Torres from the Office of the Governor told Variety that the typhoon, as of yesterday afternoon, was moving in a northward direction away from Guam.
NWS cancelled the typhoon warning for Guam at 8 last night, but a typhoon warning was in effect for Agrihan. Typhoon force winds of 74 mph or more are expected this morning.
The typhoon warning for Rota was also downgraded to a tropical storm warning. Typhoon force winds are no longer expected but tropical storm force winds of 39 mph or more are still likely.
The Guam Office of Homeland Security/Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center “scaled down” its operations shortly before 6 p.m. yesterday, according to Torres.
“We will remain in Condition of Readiness 2 until Tuesday morning as a precaution,” Torres said.
The Guam Public School System opened up two shelters: F.B. Leon Guerrero Middle School and Inarajan Middle School. However, as of 6 p.m. yesterday, no one had checked in. Torres said GPSS would close the two schools at 7 last night.
“If residents do show up at the shelters, we are taking names and contact numbers. We will contact them if things change,” Torres added.
As for the military officials on Guam, they kept their bases in Condition of Readiness 2 until further notice, according to a COMNAVMAR release yesterday afternoon.
Military installations will maintain normal base access hours while in Condition of Readiness 2 and all military and civilian employees are asked to report to work for duty today. The release stated that DoDEA schools get today off, while the Navy Child Development Centers will be open as usual.
The Orote Commissary at Naval Station will be closed today but the Navy Exchange main store and the gas stations on the base will be operating under regular business hours.
Storm position
As of 8 p.m. yesterday, the center of Typhoon Kong-Rey was located near latitude 14.1 degrees north and longitude 148.7 degrees east, according to NWS.
This was about 270 miles east of Guam, 235 miles east of Rota, 215 miles east-southeast of Tinian, 210 miles east-southeast of Saipan, and 380 miles south-southeast of Agrihan.
NWS lead meteorologist Chip Guard, in a heavy weather briefing with Government of Guam and military officials yesterday, said the system took a loop in its track.
“It turned up into a loop and started to get out of the loop Monday morning. A lot of uncertainty was in connection with the track it would take when it got out of the loop. We have been assessing the situation and it looks like it will move a little more towards Saipan,” Guard told officials.
Guard informed the government’s head officials that the storm was moving north and will head to the west at some point after passing the Northern Marianas Islands.
“There is a trough moving through the area that will take Kong-Rey through the Marianas and re-curve back to the north-east eventually. What we want to assess is whether there is to be more erratic movement because what we don’t want to do is drop a warning and put people back into a warning,” Guard added.
“In all likelihood, the damaging winds will not extend that far to the south. With the storm moving father north, there is a good chance that by Tuesday morning we will be out of the damaging winds. This is right at the edge of the damaging winds where a threshold of 39 miles per hour could be felt in the north end of the island,” Guard said in the briefing.
NWS did not expect any destructive winds or any typhoon force winds to hit Guam.
Cancellations and closures
Because of the typhoon, Continental Connection, operated by Cape Air, canceled several of its flights to Saipan today. (See full story on page 5)
Speaker Mark Forbes, R-Sinajana, called the session off until further notice. Lawmakers were expected to reconvene and continue discussions yesterday on the governor’s proposed revised fiscal year 2007 budget.
Kong-Rey’s presence also forced the Port Authority of Guam to suspend its cargo operations until further notice. According to a media advisory from the Port, jet ski and diving operations in the harbor were also stopped due to the weather conditions. Regular operations at the Port will resume when weather conditions permit.
The storm also hampered activities at the Judiciary of Guam as they closed their offices at 2 p.m. yesterday. They will resume their normal operations when Gov. Felix P. Camacho declares the island back in Condition of Readiness 4.
All court proceedings will be calendared at a later date, and patrons and practitioners will be notified by the Judiciary accordingly.
Guam Community College yesterday morning advised their employees that they must report to work, as usual, unless the governor authorizes the closure of GovGuam agencies and departments.
Tsunami watch cancelled
At 7:30 a.m. yesterday, Guam was placed under a tsunami watch after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck the Solomon Islands.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center’s advisory stated that it was not known if a tsunami was generated, and if there were one it was anticipated to hit Guam at 10:35 a.m. yesterday.
The watch, however, was cancelled at 8:39 a.m. by the Guam Office of Homeland Security/Civil Defense.