Drought — Belau, Guam

2016-04-01 to 2016-04-30 · Belau, Guam

Event narrative

The experimental drought assessment of the U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that some locations in the Republic of Palau had increased to exceptional drought conditions (Drought level 4). The main islands of Palau did however see increased rainfall with two 2 day periods experiencing heavy rainfall.

Rainfall across The Republic of Palau continued to be lower than average. During April only 7.46 inches fell at the Weather Service Office as opposed to the average rainfall of 8.44 inches.

Peleliu, another island in the Republic, also showed the effects of the drought with only 3.80 inches falling in April compared to the average rainfall of 8.10 inches at that location.

The Ngerimel Reservoir has been shut down and the Ngerikill River is the only remaining source of public water in the State of Koror.

As the drought has persisted for months the water supply has suffered in the Republic

and water rationing was implemented. Earlier in the month the severity of the drought necessitated water only being on for only up to 2 hours per day. The rainfall

during the later part of the month helped alleviate the situation and allowed a relaxing of the water rationing increasing the on time for water to 8 hours.

Schools in Palau have cut hours because of the inability to provide water to students.

Some restaurants have reduced working hours because of the lack of water, while some have shifted to using paper cups, plates and plastic utensils to save water that might have been used to wash dishes and utensils. Hotels are also suffering from the water shortage as some bookings have been cancelled.

Wider weather episode

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 622743. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.