SAIPAN — Rota residents recovering from Super Typhoon Bavi can now apply for direct federal disaster assistance, the CNMI Joint Information Center said Wednesday evening.
The Major Disaster Declaration authorizes FEMA’s Individual Assistance program for the island of Rota, covering impacts from the typhoon that battered the Marianas from July 4 through 12. The program helps individuals and households with recovery costs not covered by insurance.
Survivors can apply by calling the local toll-free line at 671-735-1050 or FEMA’s national helpline at 1-800-621-3362, online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or through the FEMA mobile app. The JIC said both phone lines are available 8 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ChST seven days a week, and registration is free.
Residents with homeowners or renters insurance should file a claim with their insurer as soon as possible. FEMA cannot by law duplicate benefits for losses covered by insurance, but applicants whose policies fall short of their damage costs may be eligible for federal assistance.
The federal opening comes alongside Rota’s emergency tent mission, which had installed 103 tents against 219 applications as of Aug. 10.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is also encouraging Rota homeowners, renters, businesses and private nonprofits to apply for low-interest disaster loans at sba.gov/disaster or 800-659-2955. The deadline for physical damage loans is Oct. 3, and the deadline for Economic Injury Disaster Loans is May 3, 2027.
On the power side, Rota remains the recovery’s hardest front. Roughly 15 percent of the island’s 967 CUC customers were energized as of Wednesday, with crews working power pole installations in Sinapalo II and III near the Sinapalo Children’s Park and BBQ Beast. Available generation on Rota has been restored to 3.8 megawatts against a peak demand of about 200 kilowatts, with the Cummins No. 3 generator online since Aug. 7 and the Mitsui No. 1 generator held in standby.
Saipan stood at 86 percent energized, with 12,688 of 14,687 customers restored. CUC said load testing of a diesel engine at Power Plant 1 raised Saipan’s available capacity from 42.5 to 44.5 megawatts. Tinian reached 94 percent, with 993 of 1,059 customers restored, and crews scheduled a Wednesday afternoon outage in the District 1 area toward the Northern Marianas College areas to safely connect customers to the main line.
On water, the Tinian system remains fully online and Rota service has reached 99 percent, with about seven District 1 customers still without service. Rota customers without water can contact the CUC Rota office at (670) 532-9413. On Saipan, CUC’s tank service area table lists 24-hour water in 13 of 14 areas, with Calhoun listed at 40 percent. Boil water notices for both Saipan and Rota were lifted in July.
