HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Waterworks Authority is assessing which areas are experiencing service disruptions or are completely without water as Typhoon Mawar exits the island.
GWA General Manger Miguel Bordallo had said Wednesday morning, as Mawar made its approach, that that there had been reports of water outages in Nimitz Hill and certain portions of Sånta Rita-Sumai for GWA customers served by U.S. Navy water sources.
Today, Bordallo said that, since his last communication with The Guam Daily Post, areas of Tamuning also reported to be without water. The Post has also received reports of water outages in Agana Heights and Yona.
The worst of Mawar has passed, but Guam is still expected to experience strong winds through this morning. The island remains in Condition of Readiness 1 and residents are advised to remain off the roads and sheltered until COR 4 is declared.
GWA won’t wait until COR 4 to perform assessments or repairs. However, it will still take time to get all services up and running again, according to Bordallo.
“We are not waiting for (COR 4), we have crews working where they can. (They are) being hampered by access (and) road blockages in some cases, but we are trying to get all issues identified so restoration in all areas can proceed. It will take some time though,” Bordallo said.
On Wednesday evening, the Guam Power Authority had announced that virtually all of Guam had lost power by that afternoon.
GPA stated that only the Dededo CT plant was left online by that time, and it was specifically serving Andersen Air Force Base, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz and a small portion of Dededo.
GPA has stated that it is prepared to begin power restoration efforts as soon as winds die down to safe levels. That will begin the recovery phase of the islandwide power system, the utility stated.
Critical restoration priorities include hospitals, critical water well and wastewater facilities, critical infrastructure facilities, schools, designated shelters, public safety and health facilities and ports of entry.
There were no updates on GPA’s Facebook page on these efforts as of this morning.
The worst of Mawar has passed, but Guam is still expected to experience strong winds through this morning. The island remains in Condition of Readiness 1 and residents are advised to remain off the roads and sheltered until COR 4 is declared.
Fallen trees and other debris block an interior village street in Malesso’ as a result of Typhoon Mawar.
