30 Jul 2014

Tropical storm alert for CNMI

12:56 pm on 30 July 2014

The Governor of the Northern Marianas has ordered all non-essential government operations to close after Tropical Storm Halong was upgraded to Typhoon Condition One, and Tropical Storm Condition Two for Saipan and Tinian.

The CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management office says current conditions include destructive winds of 34 kilometres per hour, and higher winds are possible within the next 48 hours.

As at last night, the centre of the storm was located by radar about 300 kilometres east-southeast of Rota and about 320 kilometres southeast of Tinian and Saipan.

Halong is moving northwest at about 10 kilometres an hour but is expected to turn back towards the west-northwest today with a slight increase in speed during the next 24 hours.