SAIPAN — The Commonwealth lifted its tropical storm alerts early Wednesday as Higos weakened to a tropical depression and continued tracking west, away from the Marianas. The Tropical Storm Warning and Tropical Storm Condition I for Saipan and Tinian were canceled as of 2 a.m., leaving no watches or warnings in effect.
In Bulletin #04, the CNMI Emergency Operations Center said the center of the depression was located near 14.9 degrees north, 143.4 degrees east at 1 a.m., about 155 miles west of Saipan, 150 miles west of Tinian and 135 miles west-northwest of Rota. The system was about 135 miles northwest of Guam.
Higos was moving west at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. The weather service said the depression is expected to make a slight turn toward the west-northwest and pick up forward speed through Thursday, on a track that will carry it west of the Marianas before curving south and then east of Japan late this week.
Governor David M. Apatang canceled Tropical Storm Condition I for Saipan and Tinian as of 2 a.m. The cancellation means damaging winds are no longer expected, though emergency managers urged residents to keep precautionary measures in place for gusty winds and heavy rain showers tied to feeder band activity.
The EOC said it will continue to monitor Higos and issue bulletins as needed. The next scheduled bulletin is set for 8 a.m. Residents can stay informed through local media, NOAA Weather Radio by phone at 211, or by calling the EOC State Warning Point at 237-8000 or 664-8000. Northern Islands residents can reach the warning point by high-frequency single side band radio on frequency 5.205.0.
