The U.S. Courthouse in Guam after being hit by Typhoon Pongsona.

     Typhoon Pongsona, which slammed into Guam with winds of 150 miles per hour and torrential rains in early December and flattened parts of the island, left the federal courthouse relatively unscathed. But the storm and its aftermath presented numerous challenges for the court's staff.

     The storm, its winds at times gusting to 184 mph, destroyed three of four huge air conditioning units on the courthouse roof. Each unit weighed 1.5 tons and had extra anchoring wires and bolts installed in anticipation of strong winds. Nonetheless, the interior electrical mechanisms and cooling coils were ripped out of the three units and blown into neighboring yards and streets.

     A team of court employees and building maintenance personnel collected the wayward parts, and one makeshift unit was built to service the court's first floor.

     Fuel tank fires touched off by the storm left an island-wide gasoline shortage. To get employees to work, the court ran a shuttle service with two diesel-fueled buses rented from the Navy. One bus covered the northern part of the island; the other the southern part, picking up employees at grocery stores, schools and other predetermined landmarks along major roads.

     Chief Judge John Unpingco, who led the effort to get the court ready for business, called it a two-pronged operation. "We are not only trying to get the facility repaired quickly, but we are also trying to enable our court family members to focus on their jobs to the maximum extent possible," he said.

     One unexpected problem was day care. "With no gasoline, day care centers could not run their generators, nor did they have workers. As most of our clerk's office staff are working mothers, we turned our break room into a mini day care center," Unpingco said.

     Several employees took turns supervising the children, who played indoor games, listened to stories, and watched cartoon movies. Getting to ride a bus and share in snacks and meals yielded a great day for the children. "The only complaints we heard from the kids," the chief judge said, "was when their moms put them down for naps."

     Along with most everyone else, court employees had no electricity and water at their homes, and the island's laundromats were closed. So the court converted a janitor's room into a small laundry room. And two washer-dryer units in the court gym, used only after typhoons, also were in use 12 hours a day.

     "Instead of the court family having to dress in their shorts, T-shirts and flip- flops, our court family could dress in suitable professional attire," Unpingco said. "It was a big morale booster."

     The court bought three freezers from the Navy, which it used to make ice blocks for court employees to put in their home refrigerators and freezers. "Food preservation is extremely important as the few grocery stores that are open have increasingly empty shelves," Unpingco said. "Ice in the freezer and refrigerators is also important to keep certain medications and milk or baby formula chilled. We have an annual typhoon season, so we can use the freezers year after year."

     The courthouse was back in full operation December 23, 15 days after the typhoon hit. New 1.5-ton air conditioning units are not expected to be delivered for 16 weeks.

     Ponsonga (pronounced pong-son-wha) is a Korean word B the name of a little pink flower. "This storm was anything but a little flower," Unpingco said.