Wake Island evacuates as super typhoon bears down

188 are airlifted to safety from the path of Super Typhoon Ioke

WAKE ISLAND » For the first time in nearly five decades, this tiny coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific, where its highest point barely rises to about 18 feet, has been evacuated.

The reason is Super Typhoon Ioke, whose eye is aiming straight at Wake Island, home to an American base. The fragile atoll is expected to be pummeled by gusts of up to 160 knots and waves of up to 40 feet.

"This is the most excitement I have seen in years," said Bill Wilson, one of 188 residents who were evacuated by the Air Force and flown to Honolulu in two C-17 Globemaster cargo jets yesterday.

"It's a shocker how this storm has grown so big and stayed so strong," said Wilson, who supervises fuel operations and lives in a wooden duplex near the beach. He stored his personal items, including a computer and DVD player, in plastic garbage bags. Like many of his counterparts, he hopes his belongings will survive Ioke.

Rosie Noggle and her husband, Richard, are among a handful of people who actually consider Wake Island their home. She said a longtime resident told her that the last time people were forced to flee by a storm was in 1957.

"I am told that people weren't evacuated until after the typhoon hit," said Noggle, site administrator for the civilian contractor hired by the Air Force.

"There was a lot of damage, and no one was allowed to come back for three months until after the island was restored," she said.

Her company, Chugach Support Services in Anchorage, Alaska, has 149 Thai nationals and 33 Americans on its payroll.

WAKE ISLAND was captured by the Japanese following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and later recaptured by American forces. It is located about 2,300 miles west of the main Hawaiian islands, at about the same latitude as Kona on the Big Island. The islands of Peale, Wilkes and Wake make up the atoll, with a runway the dominating feature on Wake Island.

Residents and Air Force personnel stationed here were warned three days ago that they might have to evacuate, and they were ready when two C-17s landed early yesterday.

Henry Lau, National Weather Service forecaster, said last night that "it's too close to call if the eye will directly hit Wake or miss it."

Typically, the eye of a typhoon is about 20 to 25 miles in diameter, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters have predicted the eye could come within three miles of the atoll tomorrow.

Last night, Ioke was 60 miles east of Wake and rated as a Category 5 storm. Winds were recorded at 130 knots, with gusts up to 160 knots.

The Air Force said Wake, where the highest point is only 18 feet above sea level, could endure waves as high as 18 feet, with surges up to 40 feet.

The evacuees were taken to Hickam Air Force Base on the two C-17s operated by Air Force and Hawaii Air National Guard crews. Both cargo jets were configured to carry 104 passengers for the four-hour flight.

The C-17s left Hickam Air Force Base just before 3 a.m. yesterday. On Wake Island they were on the ground only for 90 minutes, long enough to load the evacuees and a small pallet of luggage.

Master Sgt. Reginald Solomon, an administrative contract officer who lives in a concrete structure about 100 yards from the beach, said all he was allowed to take was one bag and one carry-on.

"I don't know what's going to happen when the typhoon hits," said Solomon, who has lived here for almost a year. "These buildings are old."

"It's good to be leaving," he said. "It eases my peace of mind."