MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- When residents of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, awoke Jan. 14, they were not greeted with the usual sunny skies and 75-degree weather typical of Hawaii in January. Instead, they found blistering gusts of wind that reportedly reached 90 miles per hour and the usually calm waters of Kaneohe Bay thrashing the shores of the base.
Conditions were so bad aboard base that members of local Hawaiian media came to the installation with camera crews to broadcast live some of the scenes of the carnage caused by the southerly Kona winds. The public saw views of high winds and waves crashing aboard the base. On base, nonessential personnel were sent home to wait out the remainder of the storm and its torrid winds.
Perhaps hit hardest by the storm were sailboat owners who moor their vessels at the base marina at K-Bay. Though the marina is usually a safe haven for the boats it houses, the unexpected southerly winds caused major problems and much damage to the facility and vessels.
"All three of our peers are broken to different degrees," said Neal Morgan, manager of the base marina. "A lot of our boats have some damage. We're going to be busy for a while cleaning this up. We just don't get much protection from the southerly winds here."
In all, six boats were ripped from their moorings and cast upon the rocky shore of the base, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Several other boats housed at the docks also received damage from the choppy waves that caused the boats to slam into the docks.
The marina was not the only location to feel the storm's wrath, however. As roofs ripped from numerous buildings aboard the base, structural debris scattered everywhere. Two hangars on the flight line received roof damage, the base commissary suffered roof damage, and numerous other buildings including many in base housing and barracks areas suffered the same fate.
Despite all of the damage to the installation, not one single service member, base resident or base employee was injured by the storm - though there were several close calls. Luckily, property remained the only victim.
But one Marine who was nearly injured, Cpl. John Shearer of Headquarters Bn., MCB Hawaii, was riding in a car when it was struck with a large piece of his barracks building's roof.
"This whole piece of the roof just came crashing down on the car I was inside of," Shearer said. "It kind of smashed in the windshield and then went sliding off the back. It really messed up the car."
In wake of the storm, residents of Kaneohe Bay, found that even though some of the buildings on base were ill prepared to handle such gusts of wind, those who work and live here are prepared to handle any situation that may arise.