Hurricane in Guam, December 9 to 16, 1997

Typhoon Paka formed in the central Pacific southwest of the Hawaiian Islands on November 28 1997. Paka tracked steadily westward and moved into the Guam National Weather Service Forecast Office area of responsibility as it crossed the International Dateline. This occurred shortly after 1200 LST on December 7 1997. Paka entered the Marshall Islands as a tropical storm on December 10. It became a typhoon on the morning of December 11. As a typhoon it continued to cross through the Marshall Islands until December 14. The path of the storm through the Marshall Islands was roughly from between Mili and Majuro continuing to between Jaluit and Ailinglapalap to south of Ujelang. In addition to these islands mentioned a number of smaller islands and atolls were also affected. Residence dwellings, cook and bath houses, water catchments, schools, copra storage buildings, a church building and one health dispensary building were damaged. Crops were also damaged with numerous Breadfruit, Pandanus, Banana, Papaya, Coconut and Lime trees damaged or knocked down. No deaths or injuries were reported in the Marshall Islands. An estimated $80 million worth of damage was done in the Marshall Islands.Typhoon Paka continued to move west-northwest and the islands of Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan were put into a typhoon watch at 1700 LST on December 14 1997. This was upgraded to a typhoon warning at 930 LST on December 15. At this time the typhoon was upgraded to a Super Typhoon (winds equal to or greater than 150 mph). The typhoon passed 5 miles north of Guam as it moved through the Rota Channel with winds estimated at 150 mph with gust to 185 mph near the center of the storm.Destructive winds and heavy rain began to move onto Guam during the early afternoon of December 16 1997. These destructive winds continued into the morning of December 17. the lowest pressure observed on Guam was 948 mb and the highest winds were 115 mph with gust to 175 mph before the wind recording instrument failed. On Guam no deaths were directly attributed to the storm, although at least two people were injured. 1160 single family houses were destroyed and 60 percent of the homes on the island received major damage. 30 to 40 percent of the public buildings received major damage. A 100 percent power outage followed the storm. There was an estimated $16 million dollar damaged worth of damage to the main electrical transmission and distribution system. During some period of the time 25 percent of the homes were without water. The Won Pat International Airport was closed, except for emergency flights only. An estimated $500 million worth of damaged occurred on Guam.The highest winds recorded on Rota were 90 mph with gust to 115 mph. No deaths or injuries was reported on Rota. An estimated $4.4 million worth of damage was done to public structures.Typhoon Paka was an average sized storm with a diameter of about 280 statute miles. From the time were the storm developed until the time it became extra-tropical the storm traveled 4500 statute miles, with 3450 miles in the Guam Forecast Office area of responsibility.