Hurricane (Typhoon), Micronesia
- When
- December 1, 12:00 AM GST to December 3, 12:00 AM GST
- Where
- Micronesia forecast zone
- Category
- 1
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Crop damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- Official NWS Observations
On the morning of the 30th of November a tropical disturbance was located southwest of Kosrae near 1N161E. By the 1st of December it had moved west and was located around 400 miles southeast of Chuuk.
By the afternoon of the 1st the circulation became Tropical Depresison 22W. By the night of the same day the depression strengthened to Tropical Storm Hagupit when it was located 160 miles south-southwest of Weno Chuuk. On the morning of the 2nd, Hagupit passed 75 miles south of Puluwat. No reports were received from Puluwat, but ASCAT data showed winds between 30 to 35 mph should have been felt at that|location.
ASCAT data showed that Satawal was the first to experience Storm Force winds |followed by Faraulep then Woleai, then Fais and finally Ulithi, Yap and Ngulu. |At 11 a.m. Tuesday, December 2, 2014, Tropical Storm Hagupit passed 105 miles |South of Satawal moving toward Faraulep and Woleai with maximum sustained winds|of 65 miles mph.
It is not certain of the extent of damage that Satawal sustained, but it should |have been minimal considering the size of the island and how far from the island |that the storm passed.
By approximately 10 pm on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014, Hagupit was estimated to |have passed less than 90 miles South of Woleai. The observer on Woleai reported|that as Tropical Storm passed them that he estimated that the winds gusted to as high as 23 mph.
On the morning of the 3rd, Hagupit continued to intensify and became a typhoon. |That night the typhoon passed about 30 miles to the northeast of the small atoll of Ngulu in Yap State. There were no injuries or casualties on Ngulu according chief Mario Mangar of Ngulu.
Northern clockwise through the Southern shore of the main island of Yap was heavily affected mainly due to thunderous storm surge pounding that shoreline. Private dwellings along the shore were washed away and even some concrete buildings close the shores suffered damage because of the heavy storm surge. In some areas the strong storm surge found its way inland as far as 200 yards. Most of the roads and |causeways in town were under 2 to 4 feet of salt water. There were reports from the southern part of the island of Yap that indicated that sea water moved the farthest inland reaching areas that has not been reached by sea water for many years, not even during the devastating Typhoon Sudal in 2003.
Fortunately, no injuries or casualties were reported. Government facilities including the hospital, dispensaries, schools and community centers were opened to the public to use as typhoon shelters. There was no damage to Weather Service Office and to other government facilities.
There were some fallen trees, but mostly old trees, trees in poor soil conditions, |and those by the shore that the water assisted in uprooting. Many power lines were damaged by fallen trees and this resulted in power outages for some places. Several days after the typhoon had long passed, repairs were completed and power restored.
Damage to property away from the shoreline were limited to poorly constructed houses or from falling trees. The only building that was known to have collapsed was one that was termite infested. The termite infestation was probably the biggest contributor since other buildings nearby did not undergo the same problem.