Encounter with a typhoon; Hilo family witnesses destruction in Saipan

When Typhoon Soudelor tore into Saipan earlier this month, Hilo resident Cristenee Jucutan, 15, received a painful lesson about its destructive power.

Jucutan, along with family and friends, traveled about 4,000 miles for the wedding of his older brother, James. During their stay, the storm made landfall as a Category 2 typhoon, bringing with it sustained winds of 100 mph with gusts up to 120 mph.

The family was staying in a three-story condominium in the mountains when the high winds began pummeling the windows, doors and walls of the home.

“I looked out the window and saw the glass around the patio shaking, and I asked my dad if it was safe. He said it was. Later, though, it blew out,” Jucutan said.

Then, the power went out, casting everything into darkness.

“You can hear like a machine gun, like it’s the end of the world,” the boy’s mother, Joselyn Jucutan, said. “The transformer was popping, pow pow pow! And we are running inside to the bathroom.”

Jucutan’s father, Danny, grabbed a sliding glass door as it appeared ready to break free and fly into a room on the third floor.

“It was getting stronger by the minute, and I didn’t want it to fall on my dad, so I grabbed it, too,” Jucutan said.

Suddenly, a strong gust pushed the door, along with the father and son, into the center of the room.

Jucutan took the brunt of the blow from the glass door, which shattered into pieces, cutting about four large gashes in his left leg, a gash in his right leg, two cuts on his chest, and a cut to the head.

The family spent about a half-hour inside the bathroom as the storm raged outside. Jucutan used a belt to securely tie a bathroom rug around his leg to help stanch the flow of blood, but by the end of their time in the restroom, his leg had swelled, he was experiencing a lot of pain, and he had begun to get light headed, his mother said. A large piece of glass remained embedded in at least one wound.

After the storm subsided, the family tried to make their way down the mountain to the hospital, but fallen trees blocked the roadway.

“My husband was trying to pull the trees (off the road), but he was only by himself,” Joselyn Jucutan said.

A call to 911 revealed that emergency responders also were impeded by the blocked roadway.

The next morning, the family was able to borrow a chainsaw from a neighbor and get out of their neighborhood and down the mountain to the hospital. Approximately six hours had passed since Jucutan sustained his injuries.

Outside the emergency room, “10 or 15 wounded people were waiting to see the doctor, and there was only one working at the hospital at that time,” the Waiakea High School student said.

As luck would have it, however, visiting health care workers from Shriners Hospitals for Children in Honolulu were visiting Saipan as part of their regular outreach clinics program.

“We were out there for our routine clinics,” said Nurse Practitioner Scherlyn Caneda. “We go out there about twice a year.”

When the storm hit, the team went into action, lending their expertise wherever it was needed.

Caneda and Dr. Craig Ono, a pediatric orthopaedic specialist, helped remove a large piece of glass from Jucutan’s leg, and clean and stitch up his wounds.

Jucutan’s mother, who works as a certified nursing assistant, said she knew of Ono by reputation and immediately felt relieved.

“My clients, sometimes, they had Dr. Ono., so I had heard of him. When I heard he was there, I thought, ‘Oh, really? Wow!’ I was so happy,” she said.

Now safely back in Hilo, Jucutan’s wounds are healing nicely, and Thursday he plans to reunite with the Shriners team that helped him after the storm, as they will be in Hilo offering specialist care for keiki with joint, muscle or orthopaedic conditions.

“It’ll be nice, a sight for sore eyes,” Jucutan said of seeing Ono and his team. “After what I went through and being traumatized, they took care of me. It’ll be nice to see them.”

But while he has healed, Jucutan says there still are many people left with no food, electricity or homes in Saipan.

“I’m talking with one of my teachers about starting a fundraiser to help,” he said.

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The Shriners Hospitals for Children pediatric orthopaedic specialists will visit keiki from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. today through Friday at the ARC of Hilo as part of their outreach clinics. Kids with bone, joint or muscle conditions such as scoliosis, sports injuries or other orthopaedic issues can receive help. Shriners accepts patients with or without insurance. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call outreach coordinator Sandy Zukeran at 941-4466 or 375-9479.

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.