It is a day that everyone in Guam will remember forever. December 16th, 1997 a catastrophic category 5 “super typhoon” ripped through the U.S. island territory of Guam bringing along with it sustained winds of 150 mph and had a peak unofficial gust of 237 mph (That 237 mph wind gust was considered the strongest wind ever recorded until a few years ago when it was deemed unreliable) . The storm dropped nearly 21 inches of rain before the eye of the storm could even reach the coastline making this storm truly unbelievable.
Paka was a very rare storm formed outside the usual window of tropical storms in the Pacific. It started out as an area of disturbance southwest of Hawaii, which can be very typical during a strong El Nino year and was eventually formed into the powerful typhoon. The systems surface pressure sat at a very strong 932 mb and upper level winds were very minimal helping to increase its chances of strengthening.
When the storm was all said and done in Guam, the devastation was appalling. The storm destroyed well over 1,000 homes and buildings and 10,000 were partially damaged. It left thousands homeless and over $200 million dollars in damage was reported. Due to the tremendous impact and damage to the region, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center decided to retire the name Paka from the typhoon naming list. What a day in history!
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