# Typhoon Pamela hits Chuuk (17–21 May 1976)

URL: https://allhistories.com/micronesia/timeline/1976-typhoon-pamela-hits-chuuk
Location: Moen, Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia
Themes: main-event

Typhoon Pamela formed on 14 May 1976 from a trough near the Nomoi Islands and became a typhoon on 16 May. It passed within 95 km of Chuuk on 18 May. The weather station recorded 371 mm of rain from 17 to 18 May. A mudslide on Moen killed 10 people, many of them in one buried house. In the Mortlock Islands winds exceeded 102 km/h between Losap and Namoluk. Etal, Namoluk and Kutu were hit hardest, with storm waves submerging them for 15 to 18 hours, but no deaths were reported there. The storm peaked on 19 May with winds of 240 km/h about 485 km southeast of Guam. Pamela crossed Guam on 21 May, causing about $500 million in damage. The total death toll was 11, 10 of them on Chuuk. Wikipedia notes that May 1976 was Guam's wettest month on record. It happened six months after Typhoon June, and both showed the exposure of the Caroline atolls. At this point in the timeline (1976), Edward E. Johnston (1 May 1969 – 30 Jun 1976) was High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the senior American official of the Trust Territory.

## Why it matters
The Moen landslide killed ten people on Chuuk's main island, and the Mortlock flooding shows the exposure of low atolls.

Ruler at the Time: [Peter T. Coleman](https://allhistories.com/micronesia/rulers/peter-t-coleman-53)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Typhoon Pamela (1976)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Pamela_(1976))
- [Wikipedia — Chuuk State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuuk_State)
- [Wikipedia — Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_Territory_of_the_Pacific_Islands)