In-Fa expected to go south of Guam

The CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management continues to monitor a tropical storm that is moving toward south of the Marianas.

In-fa was tracked to go south of Guam and, after an earlier weakening, was expected to re-intensify into a typhoon last night,

“There’s a possibility that it might change but the meteorologists are pretty confident in their models that it’s going to go past south of Guam,” HSEM deputy special assistant Gerald Deleon Guerrero said.

“Let’s just hope and pray that it continues to go south of Guam,” he added.

Tropical Storm In-fa has maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 85 miles east of the center and up to 75 miles west of the center.

It was moving west-northwest at 18 mph and was expected to continue the same general movement through today, taking In-fa north of Ulul this morning.

Despite its distance from the CNMI, HSEM advised residents to expect strong trade winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 30 mph ahead of Tropical Storm In-Fa.

No watches or warnings were in effect as of press time, but Deleon Guerrero said if there is a possibility of raising one it would be on Rota, which might experience some tropical storm force winds on Saturday mid-morning to afternoon, when In-fa is expected to be south of the Marianas.

“If anything, it’s going to be Rota that’s going to be affected,” Deleon Guerrero said. “But even now [National Weather Service] has not determined that Rota will get hit by this because it’s going to be 200 miles south of Rota. So far their monitor’s looking to be consistent.”

Based on the track yesterday, Deleon Guerrero said Saipan and Tinian are too far away to be affected, but nevertheless may experience 4 to 6 inches of rain within a 24-hour period due to the approach of the cyclone.

“We’re going to be monitoring this closely in coordination with the National Weather Service,” Deleon Guerrero said.

Even though In-fa is not expected to directly hit the Commonwealth, Deleon Guerrero advised the public to prepare and be ready, especially those who still have unrepaired homes or still live in temporary shelters such as tents.

“For now we’re advising the public, most especially those people that are still under the tent, to please secure your stuff, tie your tents a little tighter,” Deleon Guerrero said.

“We don’t anticipate opening of shelters but if there’s any changes, if this goes north, then we will release something to the public that we’ll open our shelters,” he added.