Residents of the capital of the Marshall Islands, Majuro, attempted a cleanup yesterday after a powerful storm damaged houses and smashed boats, while another unseasonal typhoon brewed nearby.
Majuro Atoll’s normally calm lagoon was turned into a cauldron of high waves on Friday, ripping fishing vessels and yachts from their moorings and smashing them on to reefs.
High winds tore roofs from houses, knocked down trees and caused a power outage affecting half the city, which is home to about 25,000 people.
Photo: AFP
Local officials said the severity of the storm was unusual because July is outside of the typhoon months for the north Pacific nation.
“We’ve been here through many westerlies, but I have never seen anything quite so ferocious,” said Cary Evarts, an American who has lived aboard his yacht moored in Majuro for more than 15 years.
He estimated 25 vessels in the lagoon either broke loose or dragged their moorings, and Majuro’s 5km eastern lagoon coastline was littered with debris from boats and damaged houses.
“We’ve seen inundation and damage all along the shoreline,” longtime local fisherman and Sea Patrol officer Kyle Aliven said. “This is the worst I’ve seen.”
Meanwhile, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued a “typhoon formation alert” for the Marshall Islands, saying a typhoon was building between Majuro and Kwajalein, the two most populated atolls in the western Pacific nation.
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