We were on Agana, Guam Naval Air Base some 42 years ago when Typhoon Pamela wreaked havoc on this small island. As Hurricane Lane approaches us now in Hawaii, I can recall vividly the harrowing experience we lived through. Our 4 children were very young, 9, 5, 2 and a year old.Ken was fulfilling his military obligation and he was assigned to Guam as a Navy officer at the Medical Center at Agana for 2 years. He was a Lt. Commander in the Navy medical corp. This was still during the period of the draft.
We lived in a typhoon proof military home on NAS where all naval and civilian planes flew in and out of Agana.
Our designated typhoon proof closet was in the master bedroom with no windows, no electrical outlets and just a long closet of cement construction.
Typhoon Pamela was just like Hurricane Lane with force of 150 MPH gusts and more whose eye went directly over Guam. We were fortunate with the help of Ken's corpsmen from the hospital who boarded up our home with heavy plywood to cover all windows and A/C units.
Hollowing winds, everything flying and making scary noise, darkness and crashing sounds made it sound like a scary Halloween night! It wasn't easy to take, as we calmed ourselves so the children would not be scared.
We were without electricity for 1 weeks and had no phone service of our land lines in those days, for 1 month. Cell phones were not yet invented!!
It was reassuring to see service and repair personnel from Honolulu who were contracted to help us gain back power lines on the Navy base.
Devastation was unbelievable:
Car hoods curled up due to the force of the strong winds as if they were like curly potato chips!
Trees every where were either wiped out without any leaves nor branches as if they were mowed down indiscrimantely.
Corrugated rooftops that were used for Vietnamese refugees were stripped off to nothing...devastation to the max on the main drag on Marine Drive, better known as " Tent City."
So as Hurricane Lane approaches us today, not only do memories of the past come to mind, but the feeling to be prepared as the nature has their own way of moving that NO one can refute and deny is very much alive in the Chun household.
BE SAFE, BE SMART, and BE CAUTIOUS!
We lived in a typhoon proof military home on NAS where all naval and civilian planes flew in and out of Agana.
Our designated typhoon proof closet was in the master bedroom with no windows, no electrical outlets and just a long closet of cement construction.
Typhoon Pamela was just like Hurricane Lane with force of 150 MPH gusts and more whose eye went directly over Guam. We were fortunate with the help of Ken's corpsmen from the hospital who boarded up our home with heavy plywood to cover all windows and A/C units.
Hollowing winds, everything flying and making scary noise, darkness and crashing sounds made it sound like a scary Halloween night! It wasn't easy to take, as we calmed ourselves so the children would not be scared.
We were without electricity for 1 weeks and had no phone service of our land lines in those days, for 1 month. Cell phones were not yet invented!!
It was reassuring to see service and repair personnel from Honolulu who were contracted to help us gain back power lines on the Navy base.
Devastation was unbelievable:
Car hoods curled up due to the force of the strong winds as if they were like curly potato chips!
Trees every where were either wiped out without any leaves nor branches as if they were mowed down indiscrimantely.
Corrugated rooftops that were used for Vietnamese refugees were stripped off to nothing...devastation to the max on the main drag on Marine Drive, better known as " Tent City."
So as Hurricane Lane approaches us today, not only do memories of the past come to mind, but the feeling to be prepared as the nature has their own way of moving that NO one can refute and deny is very much alive in the Chun household.
BE SAFE, BE SMART, and BE CAUTIOUS!
