Posted on 08/31/2006 10:18:14 AM PDT by kellynla
The Air Force is waiting for Super Typhoon Ioke to clear out of the way before it files back to survey Wake Island.
A Hickam Air Force Base spokesman said he does not expect that to occur until Sunday at the earliest. Once the 10,000-foot runway is deemed safe to use, an assessment team will be dispatched.
The super typhoon was expected to head straight for the three-island atoll. Last night, its eye was about 60 miles east of Wake, with the storm traveling west at about 10 mph.
"That's a bull's-eye, as far as I'm concerned," said Tim Craig, lead forecaster of the National Weather Service.
(Excerpt) Read more at starbulletin.com ...
Ruh Roh.....
Probably not. Its utility as an emergency landing site is too great.
True - but the way they're talking is that you'll have to be in an amphib to use it after this.
hehe ... the US military ARRIVED there in amphibs about 65 years ago ;-p
Wake Island was never destroyed by typhoons when Clinton was President...
Yep, Bush's fault...
Does this have to do with Global Washing?
It already hit Wake last night, and not everyone evacuated; one elderly French meteorologist stayed on the Island.
It got the Southern Eyewall.
Everyone with a functioning brain was evacuated then.
Seriously, I hope he survives and gets back in contact soon.
Clearly, typhoons must be banned...
Seriously, though, a storm of that magnitude will likely carry a 20-25 foot surge over the island, topped by 30-50 foot waves. The entire geography of Wake Island will be forever altered. Hopefully the runway will survive, but don't count on it.
At least they got everyone out in time.
Dunno about the end of Wake Island - the water will recede after the storm - but there might not be a lot left standing when it does. Lessee...20-foot maximum elevation, 36-foot waves...lemme get out my calculator...yeah. Yeah, I think I can see the problem here...
Yeah - so do I. Bush blew up the levees!
It looks like Rove has re-programmed his weather machine to focus on the Pacific.
Haliburton (KBR) has the rebuilding contracts for Wake Island.
Professional courtesy, of course.
Not storms like THIS one!
I'm trying to fit in a "NO WAKE" sign joke in here somehow.
Ok, so you are saying the islands will sink? Or are you saying the ocean level will rise 20 feet and stay there?
Its coral, it won't "wash away".
It'll be there tomorrow. Trust me.
It will be known as the Irish Wake.
This is an island isolated in the deep ocean -
You don't get nearly the water piling up in a surge like you do in the Gulf of Mexico, with shallows extending dozens of miles off the coast - you go right outside the reef at Wake and you've got a cliff of thousands of feet.
The surge won't be nearly as high as it would be on the US Gulf or East Coasts, and the fringing reef will break up a lot of the wave action.
Is it nesting time for the gooney birds or are they gone?
Since many FReepers on this thread have apparently forgotten the historical significance of Wake Island
A Magnificent Fight:
Marines in the Battle for Wake Island
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Wake.html
United States Casualties
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/Wake/USMC-M-Wake-III.html
If it does get destroyed, they might be sorry about shutting down Johnston Island and leveling it a few years back.
Didn't there use to be a volcano?
It's been over 45 years since then, but, IIRC, when we landed on Wake during a trans-pacific flight, there were still several hulks of beached (Japanese?) ships visible very close to the shore...
vewy, vewy clever. :)
I thought I heard a report earlier that the island is completely under water.
Rove made a mistake, he was aiming for Okinawa so Murtha couldn't put troops there.
well, we'll just have to wait and see...
They are no bid contracts too.
In this case, I doubt there will be either buildings or animals. The island gets to start over in the evolutionary scheme of things.
I've played many a Battlefield game on that map. :)
It's not ALL coral...and Wake Island was in the eye of Ioke, which means it got blasted by the maximum winds, waves, and surge, TWICE, from different directions. The islands may not remain submerged, but they will be changed, probably dramatically, by this storm. Sand and debris will cover everything, including the runway. Equipment will likely have to be helicoptered in to clear the runway. Then, they get to rebuild everything from scratch. Reinforced concrete structures would survive, but they would be nothing more than empty shells after Ioke passed.
Any way you slice it, Wake is gonna be FUBAR.
Well, we're going to find out soon. AF plans to send a few planes out to fly-overs and take pictures.
We should know the disposition in a day or two.
Fingers crossed.
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