By Moneth G. Deposa,
Gemma Q. Casas &
Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

OVER a hundred individuals sought shelter at five public schools and a community center on Saipan yesterday.
The schools and the Kagman center were designated as short-term typhoon shelters.
And although Typhoon Kong-Rey did not directly hit Saipan, its strong tail-end winds knocked down some trees and power lines, causing blackouts in some villages.
Many filling stations stayed closed yesterday morning making it difficult for residents to get gasoline for their vehicles.
All Mobil filling stations on Saipan were ordered closed beginning at 9:00 p.m. on Monday night for safety reasons, according to Frank B. Castro, station manager of Mobil’s branch on Beach Road in Garapan.
The stations’ convenience stores, however, remained open.
Castro said they reopened the stations as soon as they got the“go ahead” signal from their territory manager.
Six of the eight Shell filling stations that were closed between 10:00 and 12:00 p.m. on Monday night remained closed yesterday until the “all clear” bulletin was announced, according to Shell retail manager Jeff Boyer.
Those that remained open were the station near the airport and the one on Middle Road in Gualo Rai, he said.
He explained that during typhoons they assess the situation before closing stations, taking into consideration the wind that can send debris flying and possible lightning strikes.
Among the temporary shelters, Marianas High School had the highest number of evacuees — 45 individuals, a majority of whom came fromOleai.
Lumi Bermudes, the MHS shelter manager, said that they started to receive families early Monday night.
“As soon as we got the all clear advisory, they started to pack up and return to their homes,” Bermudes said, adding that five MHS classrooms were used as shelters.
At Dandan Elementary School, principal Jonas Barcinas said 41 persons sought shelter..
“We started accommodating these families Monday noon and we released them (yesterday) at about 1 p.m.,” Barcinas said.
He said the evacuees stayed in the school cafeteria.
DES has no typhoon shutters, he added.
At Garapan Elementary School, 29 persons were accommodated in three classrooms.
“We have four classrooms with shutters but only three were used,” GES principal Yvonne Gomez said, adding that all the families went home by 11 a.m. yesterday.
At Kagman Community Center, 18 individuals sought shelter on Monday night.
Police Sgt. Joe Agulto, who was assigned at the center, said the evacuees returned to their homes at 10 a.m. yesterday.
A few families were also accommodated at Tanapag and Koblerville Elementary Schools.
Commonwealth Utilities Corp. spokeswoman Pamela Mathis said the typhoon’s damage to the island’s electrical system “has been minor and for the most part isolated to a couple of villages or small sections of villages.”
But repairs and inspections are necessary, she added.
Kagman and Dandan were the hardest hit and three out of Saipan’s eight electrical grids were affected, Mathis said.
“In addition to an outage Tuesday caused by a fire in Kagman, winds blew tree branches into Kagman high voltage lines and damaged equipment on numerous power poles in the village. By 11 on Tuesday morning, the Kagman grid, feeder 4 had gone out three times,” said Mathis in a statement.
“In Dandan, one power pole snapped…when the typhoon reached its closest point to Saipan. Elsewhere in Dandan, a tree fell on high voltage lines causing an outage. Linemen will need to make repairs to this electrical system over the next few days,” she added.
On Monday, a neighborhood on Navy Hill lost its power for nearly five hours due to the typhoon.
As of press time, Mathis said they were still receiving complaints regarding sparking power lines and dangling high voltage wires.
To strengthen the electrical system and prevent high voltage wires from falling, CUC crews were making emergency repairs, Mathis said.