Mark Rabago
RNZ Pacific CNMI correspondent
The Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has reached a recovery
milestone following Super Typhoon Sinlaku, with the last
emergency generators deployed by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) now removed from Saipan and
Tinian.
The US Army Corps of Engineers announced on
Monday that its temporary power planning and response team
had completed the deinstallation of all emergency generators
used
to support critical infrastructure after the
storm.
Mission commander Captain Zach Bailey said
the move reflected progress in restoring permanent
electrical service across the Commonwealth.
“Temporary
power demobilizing is a good thing because that means that
the CUC [Commonwealth Utilites Corporation] here on Saipan
and Tinian have been able to hook up critical infrastructure
back to the permanent grid,” Bailey said.
The
temporary power mission installed 128 generators across the
two islands after deploying to the Marianas in April. The
generators provided electricity to critical facilities,
including water wells and sewage lift stations, while
utility crews repaired storm-damaged power
systems.
Speaking during a Commonwealth Public
Utilities Commission meeting last week, CUC executive
director Kevin Watson said Saipan had already transitioned
most critical facilities back to permanent power.
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“At
one point we had 45 generators from FEMA powering either
water wells or lift stations,” Watson said.
“So those
have been pulled and now we’re on grid power.”
Watson
said work was done to reconnect the Carolina Heights booster
station and Tinian International Airport to permanent power
before the generators were withdrawn.
He also reported
that water service had returned to normal on
Saipan.
“We have 24-hour water throughout the island
of Saipan,” Watson said.
The removal of the generators
comes ahead of the expiry of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency’s 100 percent federal cost-share
arrangement for emergency power operations, on 9
July.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck the Northern
Marianas in April, causing
widespread damage to power, water and other critical
infrastructure across Saipan, Tinian and
Rota.
Meanwhile, all storm warnings have been lifted
in the Northern Marianas, as former tropical storm Higos has
been downgraded to a depression overnight Tuesday.
The
emergency operations center said Higos has been moving away
from Tinian and Saipan.
The depression is moving west
and is expected to curve first south, then east of Japan
later in the
week.
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