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UNTIL THIS MORNING
Saipan flights canceled
Several boats secured at seaport, Smiling Cove Marina
Super Typhoon Yutu resulted in the cancellation of all flights in the CNMI starting yesterday afternoon and until this morning, Thursday.
Despite this, the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport remains open, according to Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Christopher Tenorio.
Tenorio confirmed yesterday that United Airlines canceled its flight for Thursday morning.
In a separate statement yesterday, United Airlines said it is expecting schedule changes for flights to and from the A.B. Won Pat International Airport Guam, beginning last night, Oct. 24, and through Friday, Oct. 26, 2018. United urges its customers to check the latest status of their flights at united.com or by calling United Reservations at 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331).
Saipan Tribune learned that the last commuter flight at the Saipan airport was a Star Marianas flight at 10am yesterday.
As of 11am yesterday, Tenorio said they were still waiting for a notice from Star Marianas about any cancellation of their commuter flights. “We cannot say that it’s shutdown until we have heard from them,” he added.
Tenorio visited the Saipan airport yesterday morning to monitor the facility.
Saipan Tribune did not see any passenger waiting at the airport starting at 10am yesterday. Several CPA police officers were there.
Tenorio said the accommodation of stranded passengers was arranged between the airlines and the hotels.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. was set to shut its water distribution system yesterday at 4pm. CUC said this would ensure that all tanks are full.
After the storm, CUC will have to assess damage to the water distribution system, said CUC executive director Gary P. Camacho.
He advised the public never to touch power lines and to never go near any high voltage lines that are dangling, have fallen, on fences, in trees, on roads, and/or on vehicles.
Yutu was expected to continue intensifying through at least Friday and was forecast to pass near Tinian as an extremely dangerous Category 5 typhoon. It had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kilometers per hour) and was moving northwest at 12 mph.
The CUC customer service payment office was open at 8am but closed at 1pm yesterday.
As of 11am, several boats at the seaport and at the Smiling Cove Marina were already secured.
