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The Commonwealth Utility Corporation and Colorado Primary Source Electric crews repair power lines on the island of Saipan as part of the effort to restore long term power to the area after Typhoon Soudelor caused devastation in August.

The first batch of the remaining 306 transformers arriving at the Saipan International Airport. The transformers were loaded on six trucks at Solomon headquarters in Solomon, Kansas and then flown to Saipan on Boeing 727s in a series of five flights.

Saipan Airport employee offloading transformers from a lane. These transformers were delivered to aid in the efforts to restore long-term power to Saipan after Typhoon Soudelor caused serious damage back in August, 2015. A total of 486 transformers will be delivered to Saipan by the end of the month.

FCO Stephen M. DeBlasio Sr. helping to unwrap cargo netting from the transformers.

CERT Saipan assisted in transporting the final arrival of transformers.

AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team member Ashtyn Moss, with community volunteers Erica Coranado and Chloe Borja clearing debris at a home site in As Matuis. Twenty AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team members (A-DRT) from Texas Conservation Corps, Conservation Corps of MN & IA and Washington Conservation Corps, supported by the Disaster Services Unit at the Corporation for National and Community Service, were mission assigned by FEMA and have been deployed to Saipan to assist in building capacity for long term recovery through partnerships with the local VOAD, Long Term Recovery Groups and the Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts (CARE). These activities include the coordination of volunteers and donated resources, coordination of homeowner assessments and intakes, and classroom field trainings on being a Volunteer Leader.

Melva Guzman-Cabrera, Human Services Specialist, educates Typhoon Soudelor survivors on mitigation rebuilding techniques for their homes.

SAIPAN, August 13, 2015 - A FEMA mitigation Specialist provides a Typhoon Soudelor survivor with information about resilient rebuilding. Photo by Ron Roth.

Transformers being loaded for transport to the CUC.

When Typhoon Soudelor hit Saipan in August, it affected more than just its human residents--the Saipan Zoo was also heavily impacted. None of the animals were hurt, but the facilities were damaged, and because the zoo is a private, for-profit organization, it was not eligible for FEMA assistance. Forced to close the zoo for safety reasons, owner Frank Aldan set up a GoFundMe account on Facebook to seek additional funds to make the necessary repairs. Through this effort, several of our team members found out about Frank's dilemma and volunteered their time to help him reopen the zoo. Since mid-August, FEMA volunteers have spent their Saturdays clearing debris, cutting trees and providing food to help the zoo recover. One of the largest trees on the island was on the zoo's property, and the typhoon blew it over. The tree was so big that volunteers from our staff spent over four weeks cutting it into manageable pieces. Last week, Frank celebrated his 60th birthday and the volunteers were invited to share his special day. Frank's grandson, Thunder, wanted to say thanks to our team members, so he selected some of his favorite rocks and painted them as tokens of his appreciation and presented them to the volunteer crew. Now our staff will always have a piece of the zoo in our hearts and a special token to remind us of the lasting friendships we made here.

The Commonwealth Utility Corporation and Colorado Primary Source Electric crews repair power lines on the island of Saipan as part of the effort to restore long term power to the area after Typhoon Soudelor caused devastation in August.

AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team supported a large-scale volunteer event in Chalan Kanoa in coordination with United for Saipan and the LTRG (CARE).The AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team members trained and led 25 volunteers in canvassing the Chalan Kanoa neighborhood with two goals in mind: to bring to light the community's unmet needs, and to determine work sites for the Saturday and Sunday volunteer events. Over Saturday & Sunday, volunteers went through the neighborhood to gather debris for removal, collected information from additional clients about their unmet needs, and received training on client intakes for unmet needs. In total at this event, 77 client intakes were completed, 140 cubic yards of tin & vegetative debris were removed, and a total of 391 volunteer hours were logged by 117 volunteers supporting the Cleanup events over Friday, Saturday & Sunday.