"Typhoon Charlie" Strikes Diego Garcia
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS070727-27
Release Date: 7/27/2007 6:58:00 PM
By Mass Communication Speacialist Seaman Jonathen E. Davis, Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia Public Affairs
DIEGO GARCIA, British Indian Ocean Territory (NNS) -- Despite not being officially classified as a typhoon, a storm nicknamed “Typhoon Charlie” by the command’s newspaper, "The Tropical Times", brought the island of Diego Garcia to a virtual standstill as trees uprooted fell onto roads and much of the island was flooded July 22.
“Initially, based on the forecast, I was surprised,” said Cmdr. Michael. C. Peterson, the executive officer of Navy Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia. “Honestly, we didn’t expect much to happen ... because of the reports [calling for] the rain to die down by the afternoon.”
But rather than die down, Charlie continued to gain strength and momentum.
The predicted weekend forecast was for rain and moderate winds. The actual weekend weather included severe rain and powerful sustained winds with gusts observed in excess of 60 knots.
According to the Meteorological and Oceanographic Center (METOC), the rainfall received was at an all-time high with almost 11 inches. In one day, the storm doubled the average rainfall for the entire month of July, approximately 5.8 inches of rain.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Nestor Guzman, a natural resource specialist for Public Works, who has been on the island for 10 years. “The people who have been here longer than me have said they have not seen a storm like this ever before.”
Diego Garcia relies on one primary road, DG-1, for vehicles to travel about the island, but the severe weather conditions and downed trees across the road restricted most transportation.
“DG-1 was impassable due to the flooding,” explained Peterson. “It was decided [by local police] to close the main road so people wouldn’t get stuck or stranded in the waters.”
Peterson informed the Naval Media Center Diego Garcia Detachment to spread the word on local television and radio to notify island residents about the overall situation including weather conditions, road closures, and safety precautions.
“We didn’t want people operating on the road, except for the safety and security crews acting as first-responders, in fear of risking their safety,” added Peterson. “Because people stayed in their berthing, they let the first-responders handle the situation –- that was the key for letting us get through this safely and efficiently.”
Another concern felt throughout the island were trees coming out of the ground, causing further road blocks and falling debris.
“The ‘missile’ hazards from trees and debris falling down was our main safety issue,” said Peterson.
Chief Electronics Technician (SW) Matthew Butow, NSF’s Command Duty Officer during the storm, witnessed firsthand the damage that “Typhoon Charlie” brought to the island.
“When I was driving around during my first set of rounds that morning, a couple of trees had fallen over by the air terminal,” said Butow. “I called the quarterdeck to inform the troubledesk to send out a crew to remove the trees, but more and more trees started coming down and the winds began to pick up. It was becoming a chain reaction.”
According to Guzman, the particular trees that were falling over during the storm were “casuarinas equisitefolia,” better known as ironwood trees. These trees are an invasive species on Diego Garcia and have only been on the island for 40 years. It is unknown how these foreign trees began populating the island.
“Because of the unavailability of the top-soil on the island the trees only have four-inches of soil to burrow in the ground, but it spreads its roots wider,” explained Guzman. “This is why many of the ironwoods are falling real easily compared to the more native trees on the island.”
During one of his rounds, Butow witnessed a moment where a falling tree could have been an issue.
“There was an instance when one of the crew members was clearing a tree next to Naval Communication and Telecommunications Station (NCTS) and then all of a sudden another tree fell right beside him,” said Butow. “It could have been a much more serious matter if the worst happened to him.”
Butow adds, “No one [was injured] when it was becoming serious that day, which was very fortunate.”
When disaster strikes, the island has a disaster program ready to be initiated at a moments notice.
“Our concern was safety,” expressed Peterson. “We considered activating our disaster program and sending people to the safe havens, but it was quickly discounted as it would require mass migration through DG-1 and we didn’t want to put people in danger.”
Communication was a major factor in keeping the island safe and mission capable during the storm.
“The key to making this all happen was [collaboration] with the Brit Rep [British Representative], Public Works Officer and Contract Manager,” said Peterson. “Coordination, sharing information and sitting down to make a quick and collaborative decision was the key to everything going as smoothly as it did.”
Peterson adds, “We all decided that safety was our number one concern, for the island tenants and those working to help clean up during the storm.”
Butow was impressed by the work the contractors and those that help clean up the island during the storm.
“They really went above and beyond what I was expecting,” expressed Butow. “They literally put themselves on the line for us, without them it could have been a really long process.”
“The clean-up crews were trying to keep the roads open and safe, but if the conditions became [more] hazardous and their safety was to be an issue we would have ceased operations and closed everything down until the storm subsided,” said Peterson.
To better prepare for storms in the future, new initiatives are currently in the planning stages.
“Although we were able to weather the storm, we have some cosmetic damage and things that still need to be cleaned up,” explained Peterson. “We learned that we need to do some preemptive measures such as pruning and downing of old trees, so we won’t have so much damage in case this happens again [in] the future.”
“One thing to remember is that the ground is still saturated and we can still have winds blowing through,” said Butow. “Stuff might be falling in the jungles and the trails can be dangerous, people should still exercise caution when walking as the trees, coconuts and branches might fall unexpectedly.”
Ultimately, Typhoon Charlie was a valuable learning experience for the entire island.
“Our goal is to be better prepared to handle a situation like this again, even though we did okay this time and no one was hurt,” said Peterson. “We’ll learn from this experience and we’ll get better for the next occurrence.”
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