Saipan power now at 63 pct.

Utilities crew work on restoring power on this section of Beach Road in Susupe. The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. said it has successfully restored power to 63 percent of Saipan some five weeks after Super Typhoon Yutu struck the island and neighboring Tinian. (Mark Rabago)

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has reported that power restoration on Saipan is now at 63 percent and water production is at 82 percent, while Tinian now has 20 percent power and 100 percent water.

That’s more than five weeks after Super Typhoon Yutu devastated Saipan and Tinian.

CUC executive director Gary P. Camacho yesterday said that with Saipan power restoration currently at 63 percent, the focus now is on primary lines and restoration of water wells.

Camacho said critical infrastructure on primary lines continues to be the priority.

On water production, the executive director said 107 out of the 138 water wells are operating.

On Tinian, Camacho said power has been restored to 20 percent of the island.

He said 80 percent have been restored with power to several critical infrastructure/customers such as the hospital, Mobil gas, police station, Bank of Guam, supermarket, fire department, U.S. Post Office, Tinian Elementary School, and Head Start Program.

Pole damage

CUC also said Yutu’s fury damaged only 11 percent of power poles on Saipan, but destroyed 42 percent of power poles on Tinian.

In his presentation before the CUC board last week about their power and water restoration efforts, Camacho disclosed that on Saipan, 1,348 power pole units were damaged, while 11,297 were not damaged.

Camacho said this translates to an 11 percent damage and 89 percent not damaged on poles.

On Tinian, the executive director there was massive devastation as 797 pole units were damaged and 1,088 were not damaged.

This translates to 42 percent pole damage and 59 percent not damaged.

Downed transformers

On transformers assessed, Camacho said on Saipan, 767 transformer units were damaged, while 3,320 units were not.

This means that 19 percent of transformers were damaged and 81 percent were not.

On Tinian, he said, 106 transformers were damaged and 469 were not.

This translates to 18 percent of transformers damaged and 82 percent were not.

Pertaining to conductors assessed, Camacho said on Saipan, 783,440 feet in total length of conductor were damaged, while 4,001,681 feet were not damaged.

It shows that 16 percent of conductors were damaged and 84 percent were not.

On Tinian, 374,531 feet in total length of conductors were damaged, while 1,107,205 feet were not damaged.

Camacho said this translates to 25 percent of conductors were damaged and 75 percent were not.

With respect to the restoration efforts, Camacho said involved in power operations are 53 CUC personnel, while on water operations are 34 CUC personnel.

He also disclosed that last Oct. 25 or three days after Yutu, CNMI received external assistance from Guam Power Authority, in which GPA personnel arrived to perform assessments of the power transmission and distribution system.

Camacho said there are a total of 102 power experts assisting in the power restoration—41 GPA on Saipan, 44 from Primary Source Electric both on Saipan and on Tinian, 10 Pohnpei Utilities Corp. on Saipan, three Kosrae Utilities Authority on Saipan, and four CUC Rota on Saipan.