Typhoon 18W (Jelawat), # 24: Okinawa in TCCOR 1-R
Published: September 29, 2012
9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, Japan time: U.S. bases on Okinawa entered Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1-R (recovery) at 8 p.m., and it appears as if it will stay that way until at least tomorrow morning due to the amount of damage sustained on base.
According to an 18th Wing public affairs office message on its Facebook page, there is much debris, downed power lines and even vehicles flipped on the roads and in parking lots.
Be sensible and don’t go outside. Security Forces will be checking for recovery team passes. If you must go outside, do so carefully and only around your house. Stay off the roads until TCCOR Storm Watch is declared.
Recovery teams will focus on securing dangerous conditions, including downed power lines; getting power restored on base; cleaning up debris from roads and paths; and recovering aircraft to meet operational requirements.
The 18th Wing command asks everyone’s patience during recovery operations to ensure we all get back to normal safely.
Okinawa’s most severe winds were 87-mph sustained and 137-mph gusts at 1:23 p.m. Saturday.
Jelawat has now begun its express bee-line run toward the Kanto Plain. Landfall is expected sometime early Sunday evening over Hamamatsu in central Honshu, with a near-direct pass over Yokota forecast for around 10 p.m. Winds should still be somewhat hairy, 58-mph sustained and 69-mph gusts at Yokota, Naval Air Facility Atsugi and Camps Fuji and Zama. Yokosuka Naval Base forecasts 35- to 45-mph sustained winds and 55-mph gusts overnight Sunday into Monday.
