"I never saw anything like Pamela. . . . The tearing of the jar, the sound of the wind, the creaking of the metal and the branches cracking together to create a sound you have never heard before. . . .
“The typhoon seems like nature is there to catch you and challenge people in their tin and concrete houses. Hit your walls and hit yourself with pieces of wood to destroy your house and your spirit. You think the typhoon is a living thing that breathes, a monster that is desperately trying to attack you, only to tear off your head and stick it on your ear. Terrible. "
This is how a person describes Super-typhoon Pamela
Before Pamela found Guam near her center, she caused damage to plantations and properties on the Truk Islands. There, a concrete house was turned into a coffin for ten people who took shelter from Pelama's winds when a landslide destroyed the house.
In Guam, 80% of buildings, including houses, were damaged and at least half were irreparable. All public services have been reduced. Entire roofs, whose steel beams were still intact, rose up to 20 miles.
Most of the streets were full of broken phones and power cables. Roads were also destroyed by strong winds. Some of them bent in places and made big holes. Hundreds of houses are nothing but loose leaves and rough foundations. Trees and plants were destroyed all over the island.
It all seemed so unreal, like a wild and confused nightmare that left Guam's face brutally disfigured. President Ford declared this American island with about 110,000 people a major disaster area.
A super typhoon
Pamela regained her strength after being born near the Truk Islands, around May 13, moved northwest and fell on Guam a week later. Its sustained winds of about 140 m.p.h. (225 k.p.h.) and gusts up to 165 p.f.h. (265 k.p.h.) or more has become one of the worst storms to hit the island and placed it in the same category as Typhoon Karen from 1962 and a huge nameless typhoon in 1900.
On the afternoon of Friday, May 21, Pamela's eye (a silent center for a typhoon) passed directly from Guam. Travel in dense 7 m.p.h. (11 km / h) The winds before Pamela blew for hours over Guam early on Friday morning. Then when the eye went there was a break at 15.00. at 6 p.m., the tailwind finally smoothed the island overnight. The island was exposed to typhoon conditions for almost thirty-six hours.
Typhoon Karen, on the other hand, moved much faster over Guam, but apparently more intensely, and would therefore have done much less damage. As one observer observed, "Typhoon Karen survivors dominated the conversation for a long time, but I have a feeling that Karen is quietly disappearing thoughtlessly."
Blessing in disguise?
Guam Governor Ricardo J. Bordallo estimated the cost of Typhoon Pamela's damage at about $ 300 million for civilian casualties. And military leaders estimate the "replacement cost" at more than $ 200 million. A journalist wrote: "It hurts my heart to see so much growth in Guam." How can this be seen as a "blessing"?
The journalist himself added: "Typhoon Pamela takes us to the congress money room. It happened once when Typhoon Karen destroyed our little island. After 1962, Guam's rise began and $ 75 million in federal funds were paid for rehabilitation. Therefore, Karen must be a blessed blessing. ""
Will it be the same for Pamela? J. J. Behan, CEO of the Guam Telephone Authority, believes this may be the case. The storm caused $ 10 million in damage to the telephone network, but much of the system needs to be replaced. As Behan pointed out, Pamela only made sure she was replaced first.
What is truly a blessing is that Pamela does not appear to have killed anyone in Guam directly as she did elsewhere. For the injured and the homeless, Pamela was truly a huge disaster. Undoubtedly, there is one thing that all islanders agree on and desire: in the future, all of Pamela's sisters will leave the island of Guam!
It’s was devastating Indeed