Okinawa troops bracing for Super Typhoon Nabi

[lebkuchen]

Base residents from Camp Kinser to Camp Hansen flocked to commissaries to stock up on essentials and began securing yard items Friday as Nabi strengthened into a super typhoon and continued making a beeline toward a midday Monday arrival.

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Equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, Nabi has the potential to turn into a dangerous projectile “anything that one person could pick up and move,” Wilson said.

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In advance of the storm, commissaries at Kadena and nearby Camp Foster swelled with shoppers, some of whom stood in check-out lines for more than an hour. Their carts bulged with bottled water, milk and bread, which were being purchased faster than shelves could be restocked.

Kadena commissary administrator Doug Cook said he expected his store to do $380,000 in business over Thursday and Friday, when normally it takes in $200,000 over two days. His 70-person staff spent much of Friday trying to restock shelves.

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“It was incredible,” said store grocery manager Scott Holt. “And to top it off, our debit-credit computer system is down and the ATMs nearby ran out of money.”

At midnight Friday, Nabi was 673 miles southeast of Okinawa, churning west-northwest at 10 mph, packing sustained winds of 150 mph and gusts up to 184. Those are forecast to increase to 167 and 201 as the storm remains over warm water Sunday and Monday. If it remains on its current forecast track, Nabi’s center will pass 69 miles north of Kadena at noon Monday, bringing sustained winds of 161 mph and gusts up to 196.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?article=31364§ion=104

[slackmaster]

1. We can learn a lot from the way things are done in Okinawa

The whole place is engineered to withstand bad tropical systems.

[lebkuchen]

3. It's a coral island w/concrete structures

wind-break bars in front of the windows holding protective wired glass. Not attractive, but very practical.

The surf breaks are giant concrete "tinker-toy-like" caisons all along the populated sections of beach fronts.

Each village has a loud speaker to communicate news to the villagers. The police are present in the streets looking for loose wires, downed trees, or people in need of help. Since the population is relatively economically self-sufficient, with excellent medical care, it keeps looting down to a minimum.

[Catch22Dem]

4. Exactly!!!

I've been saying this on DU for years. When I lived in Okinawa (for 4 years) we endured typhoon after typhoon, with two or three Cat5 storms, yet we just hung out in our houses until it was over. Sure, I lost a grill and a dog house and shit like that, but WE were safe. EVERYTHING is concrete. Like you said, it's ugly as shit, but it works. Americans could learn a lot, but they tend to be more concerned with appearance.

[lebkuchen]

5. Remember being in the eye of a Cat. 5 typhoon?

blows like hell at first, then calm, then massive winds again. Aside from a few broken windows and palm tree leaves & branches laying around, electricity out, not too much damage otherwise.

[Catch22Dem]

7. Yeah, I remember it quite well

The calm was the weird part, but don't go outside, they'll still hit you with an Article 15. ;)

[enlightenment]

10. Too true.

I remember visiting Kadena in the late 60s with my parents. We were staying in the VOC when a huge typhoon hit. My brother and I were excited to be there, because there was a TV in the quarters (we didn't have one in Tokyo) -- amazingly, it kept working almost the entire time, as the water rose and eventually seeped in under the door. We just climbed off the floor, onto the couch (eventually onto the back of the couch because it was wicking up the water from the floor) and watched the tube as long as it lasted. My mom sat on a kitchen chair with her feet propped up on another, reading a book. My dad had offered to fly an aircraft out of the area (SOP at the time, is it still?) for the duration.
That ugly concrete box protected us so well that we didn't even think about being scared.
Funny what you remember.

[Old Mouse]

2. This is the THIRD CAT 5 in Asia this season

Three category five super typhoons in a row are no more normal for Asia then they would be for the western hemisphere. What's happening is bigger than Bush's incompetent indifference and the tragedy of NO.

[onecent]

6. My daughter and her family live in Okinawa. Her husband is a

Marine. She just called from there this morning at 8:00 a.m. central time here in Kansas City area to tell me the storm is going northeast of them, and they aren't having alot of wind right now. Not going to be as bad in Okinawa, however I still worry about a Tsumami (sp). My 3 grandaughters are there also.

[lebkuchen]

8. Thanks for the info. I have friends there, too.

I hope Korea or the main islands of Japan don't sustain much damage.

I lived on Okinawa for several years and rarely recall even feeling an earthquake even though that is a "hot" earthquake zone. Typhoons came every year, though, which we actually looked forward to during the weekday because we didn't have to go to work! If the power didn't go out, it was a day to watch the stateside sports on AFN or videos of choice. :)

[onecent]

9. I think they enjoy the relief actually....they have a generator so they

usually have parties with their neighbors and the young children. iT'S also so freakin' hot there...doesn't even cool down at night. I spent 5 weeks there a year ago. Great place to visit...but don't take hair rollers or the likes. lol

[lebkuchen]

11. It cools down in the winter

to the point where you could wear a leather jacket if you wanted, but in the summer, hot and humid...great for the skin!

[Longhorn]

27. My son is at Iwakuni but he's at Camp Fuji near Tokyo right now

for training exercises. They apparently had a typhoon last week so came in from the field for a couple of days but he said it didn't amount to much where they are (at the base of Mt. Fuji.)

I hope your family is safe. Last summer and fall, they had four typhoons go over Iwakuni! I guess Japan is like our Gulf Coast, only I think that so many storms in one year is more normal for them.

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. Typhoon Nabi poised to hit Japan's main island (Cat 4)

Typhoon Nabi poised to hit Japan's main islan
05 Sep 2005 06:05:22 GMT

Source: Reuters

In TOKYO story headlined "UPDATE 1-Typhoon Nabi poised to hit Japan's main islands" please read in third paragraph....Category 4 storm....instead of....Category 2 storm (correcting category).

A corrected story follows.

(Updates with typhoon position, details)

TOKYO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon bore down on southwestern Japan on Monday, threatening the nation's heavily populated main islands with torrential rain and strong winds and disrupting transport and oil refineries.

Weather officials in South Korea also warned of flooding, while eastern China braced for possible effects from Typhoon Nabi after the region's previous storm killed at least 84 people in the east of the country, newspapers said.

Nabi was 100 km (62 miles) east of the tiny southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima at 12 a.m. (0300 GMT), the Meteorological Agency said. Winds were gusting up to 160 km an hour (100 mph) at the centre of the Category 4 storm.

The typhoon, whose name means "butterfly" in Korean, was travelling north-northwest at a speed of 15 km an hour (10 mph), heading directly for the densely populated southern island of Kyushu.

more...
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T172010.htm

[Kagemusha]

13. Apparently Japan and the US measure differently, so there's

plenty of confusion when you try to guesstimate where they fit in each other's categories.

Also, it sounds like the storm weakened some.

[MnFats]

14. let's hope they don't need help from us....

....apparently that would be the kiss of death...

[progressive_realist]

15. Currently a category 4, but expected to weaken before landfall.

Check http://www.wunderground.com/tropical for good information about hurricanes. News articles are, by their second-hand nature, always out-of-date by the time they publish storm information.

Nabi currently has sustained winds of 115 kt, which by my calculations is approximately 132 mph. That makes it a weak category 4 typhoon (same as a hurricane, but with a different name). It is expected to weaken steadily over the next 24 hours before landfall, hitting Japan as a category 2. Not exactly earth-shattering, that. Although every storm of that size causes some damage.

[lebkuchen]

17. It was 165 miles per hour a day ago.

[psychopomp]

16. It is moving very slowly

which means more rain than usual. I live in the path of this one and we are expecting almost two inches of rain over a twenty-hour period.

[mom cat]

18. Typhoon Nabi is nearing the Ryukyu Islands (moving toward Nagasaki)

Sorry if this is a dupe. Search is down and I couls not fine another such posting. This looks like a dangerous storm.

http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/regions.asp?a=a&site=wpac

Today's Discussion
POSTED: September 4, 2005 4:38 a.m.

*As of early Sunday, Typhoon Nabi is nearing the Ryukyu Islands,
packing sustained winds of 120 mph with gusts reaching 150 mph. The direction of movement is to the northwest at 6 mph. The Ryukyu Islands will start to feel the affects of Nabi on Sunday with a passing over the northern Ryukyu Islands on Sunday night. A bit more strengthening is expected over the next 24 hours as Nabi sets its sights on Kyushu in southern Japan. Expected arrival of Nabi over Kyushu would be during Tuesday, with sustained winds of 110-125 mph. After impacting southern Japan, Nabi will remain a typhoon, even though a weaker storm, as it tracks across the Sea of Japan during midweek.

[niyad]

19. this does not look good at all.

[jody]

20. I went through several typhoons on Okinawa. Funny thing is nine months

later the birth rate spiked.

What a way to ride out a storm. :loveya: to my wife!

[Akoto]

21. Wow.

Japan has always fascinated me. It's such a beautiful place. I hope they pull through alright.

[preciousdove]

22. Thanks I was just going to Google my sister is on Okinawa n/t

[Lilyhoney]

23. I have been watching this one. nt

[NYC]

24. Does this mean it missed China?

China had evacuated nearly 800,000 people, I think.

[whatelseisnew]

25. Ispoke to a woman in Louisiana w/no power, water, money

who has a daughter-in-law in Okinawa. The daughter wanted to come to the states to help her family. She was more worried about them than the Japanese, who, she said were far better prepared to deal with disaster.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

26. Since it's Monday night there now,

I'll bet the typhoon is south of Kyushu by now.