Crisita Calage, 59, said she and her family fled their farm home behind Herman’s Modern Bakery on Airport Road as floodwaters rose rapidly during Sinlaku’s landfall.
“Oh my God, I feel nervous and I don’t know what to do,” she said. “It’s very strong, and Sinlaku stayed very long. Until now, I don’t know what to feel.”
Their four‑bedroom home remained flooded for a week, and the roof was torn off. Calage said the destruction mirrors what her family endured during Super Typhoon Yutu, when their house was blown apart. She had been approved for a rebuild through the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation, but the home was never reconstructed. Instead, she used leftover Yutu materials to patch together a structure Sinlaku has now destroyed again.
To cope, Calage has been volunteering with the American Red Cross at the Marianas High School shelter. “I don’t want to stay there. It’s so bad,” she said of her home.
Donnell Abalia Isip has been staying at the Koblerville Elementary School cafeteria shelter since April 14 after his house was “totally damaged.”
He said his family initially stayed inside during the storm, thinking it would pass quickly. “We thought it would last two hours,” he said. “Holy cow, it took two days.” When they returned, he said, “our house was gone.”
Isip plans to apply for federal assistance following President Trump’s major disaster declaration for the CNMI.
According to the CNMI Joint Information Center, 565 people remained in shelters across Saipan and Tinian as of April 25.
