The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has reached a recovery milestone following Super Typhoon Sinlaku, with the last emergency generators deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now removed from Saipan and Tinian.
The US Army Corps of Engineers announced on Monday that its temporary power planning and response team had completed the deinstallation of all emergency generators used to support critical infrastructure after the storm.
Mission commander Captain Zach Bailey said the move reflected progress in restoring permanent electrical service across the Commonwealth.
"Temporary power demobilizing is a good thing because that means that the CUC [Commonwealth Utilites Corporation] here on Saipan and Tinian have been able to hook up critical infrastructure back to the permanent grid," Bailey said.
The temporary power mission installed 128 generators across the two islands after deploying to the Marianas in April. The generators provided electricity to critical facilities, including water wells and sewage lift stations, while utility crews repaired storm-damaged power systems.
Speaking during a Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission meeting last week, CUC executive director Kevin Watson said Saipan had already transitioned most critical facilities back to permanent power.
"At one point we had 45 generators from FEMA powering either water wells or lift stations," Watson said.
"So those have been pulled and now we're on grid power."
Watson said work was done to reconnect the Carolina Heights booster station and Tinian International Airport to permanent power before the generators were withdrawn.
He also reported that water service had returned to normal on Saipan.
"We have 24-hour water throughout the island of Saipan," Watson said.
The removal of the generators comes ahead of the expiry of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 100 percent federal cost-share arrangement for emergency power operations, on 9 July.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck the Northern Marianas in April, causing widespread damage to power, water and other critical infrastructure across Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
Meanwhile, all storm warnings have been lifted in the Northern Marianas, as former tropical storm Higos has been downgraded to a depression overnight Tuesday.
The emergency operations center said Higos has been moving away from Tinian and Saipan.
The depression is moving west and is expected to curve first south, then east of Japan later in the week.
