Drought — Belau, Guam

2016-03-01 to 2016-03-31 · Belau, Guam

Event narrative

The experimental drought assessment of the U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that some locations in the Republic of Palau remain in a period of extreme drought conditions (Drought level 3).

Rainfall across The Republic of Palau continued to be lower than average. During March only 2.68 inches fell at the Weather Service Office as opposed to the average rainfall of 8.27 inches.

Peleliu, another island in the Republic located at the south end of the lagoon (30 miles S of Malakal Harbor), also showed the effect of the drought with only 2.63 inches falling in March compared to the average rainfall of 8.20 inches at that location.

The Ngerikiil Reservoir dropped to very low levels and flow of the

Ngerikill River is very low. As the drought has persisted for months the water supply has suffered in the Republic and water rationing was implemented. The severity of the drought necessitated water only being available for 6 hours per day or less. The hours that the water was turned off allowed the Utilities personnel to fill and maintain water level in all the distribution tanks in Koror and Airai to help ensure a supply of water at the scheduled hours. Some people on higher elevation had no water.

Wider weather episode

Prolonged drought continues across the Western Pacific and many locations in Micronesia.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 620341. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.