Typhoon Dolphin

Typoon Dolphin passed by Pohnpei over the weekend leaving a lot of downed trees, roof damage, flooding and general destruction.  No one that I'm aware of was injured however.  Saturday brought torential rains.  It rained well over six inches in 24 hours.  The ground was saturated when the winds arrived on Sunday afternoon.  This happened to be Mother's Day weekend.  Many church and community members took shelter in the ward buildings.  The storm was classified as a tropical storm while passing over Pohnpei but it has quickly developed into a full blown typhoon as it slowly works its way toward Guam and from there toward Japan.

Below is  a picture of the Palm Terrace grocery store.  The metal awning covering in the front of the store was demolished by the severe winds.

 Massive trees were blown down as the storm swept through the island.  Damage out of town in the more remote parts of the island were much worse.  Homes there are not as substantial and received considerable damage.  Parts of the island will be out of water and electricity for many days to come.

 The winds ripped off the roof of this building.  The winds appeared to be coming from multiple directions

We weathered the storm without any major issues with the exception of off and on again electrical power.  This was the weekend that the missionaries call home for Mother's Day.  We managed to get all the calls done with the exception of one missionary from England.  Some of the missionaries were stranded out on the outer island for several hours until trees and power lines were cleared.

Living most of our lives near the Columbia River Gorge has prepared us for wind storms.  This one was akin to a good Troutdale wind storm but with warm weather.