Remote Roi-Namur Express Escapes Damage as ‘Rogue’ Waves Cause Flooding on Kwajalein Atoll

One of the most remote Exchange locations in the world escaped damage over the weekend as “rogue” waves caused widespread flooding on Roi-Namur, an island on the Kwajalein Atoll.

The atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, is one of the world’s largest coral atolls, with nearly 100 islands surrounding it. About 9 p.m. Saturday, high waves exceeding 15 feet hit the northern portion of the atoll, causing heavy flooding on Roi-Namur, where the Exchange operates an Express. But the store got lucky.

“From the outside, it looks a little rough, but as far as the inside goes, it’s pretty much business as usual,” said Ian Morales, general manager of the Kwajalein Atoll Exchange. “The store sits on an elevated concrete pad and the water either just barely made it to the top portion of that or didn’t make it all. We didn’t have any damages or water residue inside.”

Although it’s classified as an Express, Roi is slightly larger than the average Express and operates more like a troop store. The floods closed a runway on the atoll, but Morales, who is also general manager of Exchange facilities on Kwajalein Island, 40 miles south of Roi, visited the store by boat late Monday afternoon. After they landed around 5 p.m., the team opened the store from about 7 to 9.

“We did as much sales in those two hours as we do in a normal business day,” Morales said. “Everyone was happy when they drove by and saw the lights on. Just being able to get soda and some frozen food was big. We’ve been open every day since and everyone’s been able to get their water, sodas, chips.”

A runway at Roi has been closed since the flooding, so what is usually about a 20- to 30-minute flight between Kwajalein Island and Roi became a much longer boat trip. “We have an LCU (Landing Craft Utility), which is an old Army landing craft, and then we have a tugboat,” he said. “Those go slow so it’s about a five-hour trip.”

While the Roi store escaped damage, neighboring facilities on Roi weren’t so lucky. Waves completely took out a bar and a dining facility. Video of the waves hitting the dining facility went viral, as waves crashed through the front doors, knocking customers down. Running water became scarce and power outages were common.

“Since the DFAC was lost, there’s a makeshift dining facility going into one of the community buildings,” Morales said. “We’ve been helping the contractor. We had pallets of water that they needed for cooking. They came through and bought a lot of chips just to have some variety and morale-boosters. They lost absolutely everything in the dining facility.

“The last couple of days they’ve had just boiled hot dogs and sloppy joes,” Morales added. “They just got a grill yesterday, so they’re looking at buying some charcoal from us as well. So now we’ll have barbecued hot dogs.”

The Kwajalein Island facilities—a retail store, food court and Express—were not affected by the flooding.

Morales said that three associates work on Roi Namur and that they have all been accounted for. Two of them were actually at Kwajalein, helping with inventory, when the waves struck.

The stores support U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll. According to Radio New Zealand, Roi Namur is home to the Army’s most sophisticated space-tracking equipment as part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site.

The Exchange has had a presence on Kwajalein Atoll for nearly 80 years—a PX opened on Kwajalein Island on Feb. 25, 1944, to support troops during World War II. The atoll is roughly midway between Papua New Guinea (which is a little less than 2,000 miles to the southwest) and Hawaii (about 2,100) miles to the northeast).