Citation

Houston SH, Forbes GS, Chiu ANL. Nat. Hazards Rev. 2002; 3(2): 36-47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, American Society of Civil Engineers)

DOI

10.1061/(ASCE)1527-6988(2002)3:2(36)

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) convened a group of experts on Guam soon after Super Typhoon Paka left the island in December 1997. The primary mission of this team, which consisted of two meteorologists (a hurricane researcher and a severe-weather expert) and a civil engineer, was to gather data related to the destruction caused primarily by Paka's winds. This group collected all available recorded wind observations and conducted surveys of damage from the ground and air. There was particular interest in collecting data in the vicinity of Andersen Air Force Base on the extreme northern end of Guam, where a wind gust to 105 m⋅s−1 was reported by a "hot-filament" wind instrument within Paka's eyewall. The multidisciplinary background of the NOAA team made it possible to determine the validity of this extreme gust and other ambiguous situations across the island. Meteorological perspectives of Paka's impact on Guam are shown using the wind data gathered, including composites of the sustained wind speeds and damaging wind gusts and directions. These winds are related to examples of the damage (or lack thereof) found in buildings, structures, utilities, and vegetation on the island that provide an engineer's perspective of Paka's effects on Guam. Recommendations are made regarding future major tropical cyclone landfalls, including the need for rapid deployment of multidisciplinary data-gathering teams.