Guam underwent its first typhoon in 20 years with Typhoon Mawar on May 24.
However quickly water and power has been restored and however hard utility employees are working, that isn’t quick enough for the businesses and homes that are without utilities.
Shorter hours due to overheated private generators at businesses, lead to less income and fewer services for the island’s population.
The storm hit hardest in the North of Guam and the Northern villages of Dededo and Yigo suffered what GPA said was “severe damage to the power grid.”
One office in Yigo told the Journal none of its employees are back on the grid.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered 60 generators to Guam before Mawar arrived, with another 100 due to arrive after the storm.
Only 25% of the Guam Power Authority’s transmission lines are underground. GPA crews are now busy repairing them.
On June 13, GPA shared that the first load of high reach bucket trucks would be arriving in Guam that week, which would help with the repair of transmission lines. FEMA was able to send those by private charter.
“Additional bucket trucks sourced by DoD and FEMA are expected to arrive over the next two weeks, allowing line crews to address repair and restoration in more areas islandwide,” GPA shared.
If you are a business or homeowner whose weather head needs repairing, this can only be done by a licensed electrician – for which you’d no doubt be happy to pay for. That expense falls to you. However, electricians are like gold dust, with many of them working on the island’s military construction projects. We hope there’s a Plan B for repairing weather heads.
What happened to the Guam Waterworks Authority’s generators? True, they are old. But the life of a regularly maintained generator extends beyond 30 years.
Did either of the agencies have a crisis management plan?
Sen. William Parkinson’s oversight hearing on the utility agencies was postponed from June 15, so the utility agencies could focus on recovery. It needs to be thorough when it happens. mbj
However quickly water and power has been restored and however hard utility employees are working, that isn’t quick enough for the businesses and homes that are without utilities.
Shorter hours due to overheated private generators at businesses, lead to less income and fewer services for the island’s population.
The storm hit hardest in the North of Guam and the Northern villages of Dededo and Yigo suffered what GPA said was “severe damage to the power grid.”
One office in Yigo told the Journal none of its employees are back on the grid.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered 60 generators to Guam before Mawar arrived, with another 100 due to arrive after the storm.
Only 25% of the Guam Power Authority’s transmission lines are underground. GPA crews are now busy repairing them.
On June 13, GPA shared that the first load of high reach bucket trucks would be arriving in Guam that week, which would help with the repair of transmission lines. FEMA was able to send those by private charter.
“Additional bucket trucks sourced by DoD and FEMA are expected to arrive over the next two weeks, allowing line crews to address repair and restoration in more areas islandwide,” GPA shared.
If you are a business or homeowner whose weather head needs repairing, this can only be done by a licensed electrician – for which you’d no doubt be happy to pay for. That expense falls to you. However, electricians are like gold dust, with many of them working on the island’s military construction projects. We hope there’s a Plan B for repairing weather heads.
What happened to the Guam Waterworks Authority’s generators? True, they are old. But the life of a regularly maintained generator extends beyond 30 years.
Did either of the agencies have a crisis management plan?
Sen. William Parkinson’s oversight hearing on the utility agencies was postponed from June 15, so the utility agencies could focus on recovery. It needs to be thorough when it happens. mbj