by the associated press: As Typhoon Mawr aimed its fury at Guam, residents braving fierce winds and crashing waves from the strongest typhoon in the US Pacific in decades had identical twin meteorologists to keep them informed — and appearing on the remote island to provide a semblance of chaos to the outside world.
The Guam Office of the National Weather Service has hired Landon Aylett as the Warning Coordination Meteorologist. His brother, Brandon Idlet, is the science and operations officer.
Together, the Facebook Live broadcast featuring the 41-year-old tag-team was watched by thousands as Typhoon Mawar arrived with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph), residents lost power, internet and water service. Was given
Their colorful descriptions of the Category 4 storm painted a picture as the two took turns describing Trees snapped like toothpicks, high winds, about 2 ft (0.6 m) of torrential rain and a “state of whiteout” outside the office where he hid with other colleagues for nearly 48 hours.
“Reassure your kids. As we go later into the night, it’s going to be a little scary,” Brandon Aydelet said in a Facebook Live update as the island was hit by a typhoon Wednesday. “You can hear voices : The winds are howling, things are breaking. Just be together, talk to each other and things will slow down towards midnight and continue till Thursday morning.
Earlier, his brother explained to viewers of another live update that the weather was about to turn bad.
“We’re starting to hear low rumbles in the building here at the National Weather Service,” Landon Idlett said. “There is a rattling at our doors. We hear a slight whistle from the windows, slight creaks in the doors. We’re getting those effects here as we near hurricane-force conditions.
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He told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview Thursday morning local time that working with his brother is like working with his best friend. He said that they never planned to work together.
“But the jobs fell into our laps, and we followed our hearts and our passions for the work,” Aydelet said. “And somehow we both made it to Guam.”
The brothers are from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, a small farming town in the Outer Banks, about an hour from Norfolk, Virginia. Brandon Aydelet came to Guam 13 years ago and his brother half a year later.
The brothers love to go hiking and paddleboarding. Brandon Aylett loves to run. Landon Aylett — who wore the tiny white sphere necklace gifted to him after the 2018 typhoon at Thursday’s final briefing — likes to lift weights. Last year he broke two Guinness World Records by building the world’s largest and tallest toy timber tower as part of a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser. The “Tower for Humanity” raised $20,000 for the Guam chapter of the charity.
Landon Aydelet said he had heard of the pair working together at the National Weather Service offices, but had never heard of other twins.
Guam is an island of approximately 150,000 people approximately 3,900 miles (6,275 km) west of Hawaii and 1,600 miles (2,600 km) east of Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
The weather service office issues forecasts for Guam as well as several islands to the north — Saipan, Tinian and Rota — that are part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, another US territory. The Guam office also provides weather forecasts for the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and the nearby independent Pacific island nations of Palau.
On Thursday, in his final live update, he passed the informational baton back and forth as the storm began to subside. This will be his last update from Guam, Landon Aydelet said, after nearly 48 hours together in the forecast office.
“I don’t know what my house is going to look like right now,” he said. “I’ll find out very soon, but we’ll get through this together. We’re a Guam. We’re a Mariana. Stay safe and stay safe.”