Guam Exchange Team Working to Reopen Facilities After Typhoon Mawar Strikes Island
The Guam/Saipan Exchange team was working to reopen facilities on Friday, a day after Typhoon Mawar made a direct hit on Guam.
By mid-morning Guam time, General Manager George McNamara and his team had cleared up and prepared the Andersen and Barrigada Expresses to reopen, and were working to reopen the main shopping complex by Saturday morning. The Andersen Class Six is also expected to reopen Saturday after teams cleaned up flooding inside the store.
“Incredible dedication by George and his team,” Pacific Region Vice President Larry Salgado said. “I’m always amazed by the resilience of our teams and so proud of them!”
An Exchange Burger King was damaged by Typhoon Mawar, and lost food because power outages. The Burger King will remain closed Saturday.
The stores support the Andersen Air Force Base community. Logistics, Merchandising, Internet Technology, Facility Management Office FMO) and Planning, Allocation and Replenishment (PAR) teams responded to assist the Guam team with whatever it needed.
Although fuel pumps at the Expresses sustained some damage, the fuel supply is good. Technicians will still need to inspect Andersen Express pumps before they can reopen. Deliveries of additional fuel were en route. Team was able to get six of the eight pumps at Barrigada Express back on line and pumping fuel Friday evening Guam time.
More than 20 inches of rain fell on Guam in a 24-hour period, with some locations receiving as much as 24.5 inches. As of Friday morning Guam time, conditions were starting to improve but heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges were still possible. All non-essential, non-emergency personnel on the base were advised to stay home.
“There’s significant damage throughout the island, lack of power, lack of water,” McNamara said.
Signs were blown down at a Burger King and a Charley. Most trees were downed, and some storage trailers and outdoor furniture were overturned. One 40-foot container was blown more than 150 meters. There was damage to roof tiles and leaks inside the building at the Burger King.
The main shopping complex sustained damage to the building exterior but there were no leaks inside.
The storm blew down trees and overturned outdoor furniture.
Paul Olney Jr., a buyer in the Pacific Buying Office, said on the DSG call that the PBO has about 25 direct store delivery suppliers on the island. He said he would contact a food supplier that provides fresh salads and bento boxes and ask them to increase those orders.
“We received a message from a beverage supplier,” Olney said. “They have water available on-island, and they’re going to go to each store and see what they need and start getting orders as soon as they can get on the base.”
Pacific Region officials were able to plan ahead with the (PAR) team, which has already prepared some emergency products for shipment. The PAR team has activated its standard disaster assortment and disaster process.
The typhoon did not strike Saipan, home to the Saipan Troop Store, part of the Andersen Exchange. The Troop Store was unaffected and remained open as usual. The storm was not expected to affect other Exchange operations in the Pacific Region.
Storage trailers were blown over during the storm.
