COMMONWEALTH Utilities Corp. crews are racing against the clock as Tropical Storm Bavi strengthens toward the CNMI, with forecasters now expecting the system to intensify into a super typhoon by late Sunday or early Monday. Newly arrived transformers are being moved into warehouses, loose equipment is being secured, and line crews in Tinian are returning to Rota to prepare their homes before the storm. “It’s a moving situation and evolving,” CUC Executive Director Kevin Watson said on Thursday, adding that the utility will keep power online as long as conditions allow.
Water system preparations are also underway. CUC plans to close all reservoirs before any shelter-in-place order takes effect so residents and the hospital can fill their water tanks. Wells will continue operating even if tanks overflow during the storm. CUC utility coordinator Joel Hoepner said the biggest vulnerability remains the power lines that energize the well fields. “If we don’t have wells, we don’t have water.” CUC may temporarily shut off water service in the Dandan area to accelerate filling of the new one-million-gallon concrete tank.
CUC warned that restoration work from Sinlaku will pause once winds reach unsafe levels, but crews will resume work immediately after the all-clear. Concrete pole shipments continue, though manufacturing delays persist. Temporary repairs at the Saipan power plant are not expected to withstand a super typhoon, Watson said, urging residents to store water now. “There’s no guarantee your individual tanks will survive,” he said. “I’m buying extra five-gallon buckets myself.”
More details to follow.
