Wake Isle in storm's cross hairs
Super Typhoon Ioke will likely hit today with 190-mph gusts
Star-Bulletin staff
citydesk@starbulletin.com
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.
Forecasters said Ioke was likely to hit the atoll well before its predicted time of arrival, which was between midnight and 1 a.m. today.
That is because hurricane-force winds of 155 mph span 150 miles in diameter, with gusts of 190 mph, Craig explained.
"This is bad -- I can't put it any other way," Craig said. "Between the winds and the storm surge, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole island goes underwater."
The U.S. Navy's Joint Hurricane Typhoon Warning Center has been able to track Ioke accurately since it was 500 miles from Wake, Craig said.
Ray Tanabe, Weather Service lead forecaster, said 155-mph winds can do a lot of damage, especially to buildings that are not concrete. Most of the structures on Wake were "built during the war, are fairly fortified and should fare OK," he said. "However, some of the smaller structures may not survive as well."
Ioke will pass into no man's land once it passes Wake Island, Tanabe said. Next on its path is an uninhabited Japanese island, Minami Torishima. Ioke is expected to get there by Saturday afternoon.
Ioke is the first Category 5 hurricane to develop in the central Pacific since record keeping began in the early 1960s, according to the National Weather Service. Once it crossed the International Dateline, its name was changed to Super Typhoon Ioke.
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