Johnston Island
braces for Dora

The hurricane is expected to
come within 27 miles of the Pacific
chemical weapons disposal facility

Weather page

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Hurricane Dora, which skipped Hawaii, is headed towards remote Johnston Island and is expected to come within 27 miles of the Pacific chemical weapons disposal facility tomorrow night.

Jeff Powell, National Weather Service forecaster, said waves of up to 20 feet are expected to lash the tiny 2-mile-long island which lies 824 miles southwest of Honolulu. The highest point on the island is 7 feet.

Winds are expected to gust up to 90 miles an hour, Powell said.

Almost 1,300 civilian and military personnel who work on Johnston as staff members of the national bird refuge or the Army's chemical weapons storage site will be evacuated to Honolulu, an Air Force spokeswoman said.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Surfers are hoping for a hurricane swell from Dora. The
National Weather Service says waves of 3- to 5-feet
were still possible today.

Lt. Amy Sufak, Hickam Air Force Base spokeswoman, said only 300 of Johnston Island inhabitants are military and most of them are in the Army.

The military may have to turn to the Hawaii Air National Guard and its squadron of C-130 cargo aircraft and active duty units on Guam to support the nearly three-hour evacuation flights, Sufak said. The first flights could begin as early as tonight.

Almost five years ago -- on Aug. 24, 1994 -- Hurricane John swept through Johnston causing $10 million to $15 million worth of damage.

The hurricane didn't damage the $240 million chemical weapons disposal plant. However, it shutdown the plant's automated dismantling and incineration of nerve and mustard gas weapons for a month. The plant is considered a prototype for the destruction of banned weapons.

Hurricane gusts of up to 85 mph were reported in 1994.

The winds ripped the roof off a dining hall and demolished several small buildings and communication satellite dishes. Left intact were the 54 concrete and earthen bunkers that store bombs, artillery shells, and rockets that have nerve gas warheads.

Earlier this month the Army reported that the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System had destroyed 83 percent of all chemical weapons stored there, including its stockpile of mustard gas.

In 1991, Johnston held 6.6 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. The entire facility will be dismantled and closed by the end of next year.

The four islands -- most of them man-made -- that make up Johnston Atoll will then become a wildlife sanctuary.

Hurricane Dora passed south of the state overnight, bringing surf as high as 20-feet to the south and east shores of the Big Island, but nothing substantial in the way of rain.

No significant damage was reported and hoped for rain in drought-stricken areas of the Big Island did not materialize, said Hawaii County Civil Defense chief Harry Kim.

At its closest point, the storm passed about 300 miles south southwest of South Point on the Big Island at 8 last night and more than 350-miles away from Honolulu.

The high surf flooded Ahalanui Beach Park in Puna. Kim said the park may need to be cleaned up before it can be reopened.

Kim said officials were to meet this morning and were expected to reopen closed beaches, parks and camp sites along the Puna and Kau coastlines.

Back country trails and campsites in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park could also be reopened today.

The county had also ordered boats at Pohoiki harbor in Puna to be taken out of the water.

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Reporter Treena Shapiro contributed to this story.