Wake Island evacuated as 'super typhoon' roars in

[babylonsister]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/08/29/wake.island.evac.ap/index.html

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- The U.S. military has evacuated 200 people from Wake Island before the arrival of Typhoon Ioke, the strongest Central Pacific hurricane in more than decade.

Classified as a Category 5 "super typhoon," Ioke is expected to extensively damage the U.S. territory when it hits Wednesday with 155-mph winds, said Jeff Powell, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

"This is going to roll up a storm surge that will probably submerge the island and destroy everything that's not made of concrete," Powell said.

The evacuees, mostly American and Thai contractors, on Monday were flown to Hickam Air Force Base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, said Maj. Clare Reed, a spokeswoman for the 15th Airlift Wing.

The contractors work at a civilian base, Reed said. No other permanent residents live on the tiny island, she said.

Ioke had winds of 160 mph and gusts up to 185 mph on Monday, Powell said.

The storm was 560 miles southeast of Wake Island and on track for a direct hit, according to the forecast.

Wake Island is 2,300 miles west of Honolulu and 1,510 miles east of Guam. The storm is expected to strike at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, or noon Thursday on the island.

[donsu]

1. and where will the storm go from there?

155 miles per hr.!!

[bluerum]

3. It has been that strong for four days now. Roaring across the ocean.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

12. been there 4 days? biggest Super Typhoon in 10 years? noooo

can't be. I'm sure I would have heard something on the news! :sarcasm:

[Lochloosa]

2. Impressive looking....

[OldSiouxWarrior]

4. Each grid square is about 120 nautical miles on a side. NT

[SpiralHawk]

5. "I'm putting Brownie in charge, and going on vacation." - Commander AWOL

[kestrel91316]

6. Kestrel jumps up and waves hands.....................hey, hey!

I'VE BEEN TO WAKE ISLAND.

1965, we were returning from 3 years in Japan (my dad was USAF). Our return flight was by military transport (yes, we crossed the pacific in a propeller aircraft, lol, and it was EXTREMELY noisy) and we stopped at Wake island to refuel and have a bite to eat. The plane landed on the tarmac, and a bus drove out to pick up the passengers and take us to a cafeteria on the base, and then drove us back out to the plane. I was only 7 so I don't remember anything else.

It was a very very very long flight from Tokyo to the bay area.

[shanti]

7. check your email

:hi: i remember wake island too!

[slackmaster]

8. Did you see any goony birds?

[Javaman]

9. Wake Island is a little scrap of an island, I wonder if it will still be

there after this.

But then again, global warming will take care of it when the oceans rise.

[musiclawyer]

10. Seriously, what do birds do when a typhoon is coming?

just asking. And any other little critters that might live there?

[sofa king]

11. Suddenly, I want a weather mod for Battlefield 2.

Seriously, I hope everyone gets away safely. The highest point on the island is only twenty feet.

[jwirr]

13. I take it that there are no natives on this island? Article said that

they evacuated mostly Americans and Thai contractors.

[sofa king]

14. No natives.

It does not appear to have been regularly visited by Pacific peoples, and as far as I know no early explorers ever recorded evidence of anyone else having been there. The first known human settlement was "PAAville," the nickname given to the Pan American seaplane station set up there. It has no fresh water at all, and it's out of the way of the rest of Oceania by hundreds of miles.

However, some of the facilities on the island are run by the Chugach Alaska Corporation, a Native Alaskan entity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Island