THE passing of Tropical Storm Sanvu south and west of Guam this week has been a chance to get geared up for the possibility of damaging wind and heavy rain. It’s a good reminder, because our skills and typhoon protection equipment may have gotten a little rusty from disuse during the past eight years or so.

We have had an unusually long period of reprieve from typhoons and tropical storms. Global warming, El Niño or La Niña, the melting ice caps at the poles or whatever else might be the cause, Guam’s weather has for the most part been pretty benign since, oh, maybe the last time we located the Liberation Day carnival up at Tiyan.

Could this be a harbinger? Chata’an in 2002 flattened the carnival and its gambling casino, pretty effectively shutting it down. Now we’ve got that blue building ready to go again, and the weather people say things meteorological are changing.

So get ready for tropical storm warnings and watches, for typhoons in categories from one to five, for flooding in low-lying areas and for possibly damaging winds. From the National Weather Service it sounds like this: “Preparations to protect life and property from damaging winds should have been completed. Loose outside objects should already be stowed. Remain in suitable shelter against damaging wind and heavy rain. Keep an adequate supply of food and drinking water available,” and so forth.

Long-time residents of Guam are familiar with this drill. Most of us were reminded that this week is the anniversary of Super Typhoon Pamela, in 1976, which pretty much settled the question of whether a severe storm could hit the island in the month of May. In fact, there is no month of the year when a tropical disturbance has never affected Guam, and no real typhoon “season” to speak of.

Use this week as an exercise. Get out your WD40 and make sure those typhoon shutters can slide. If they are the locking type, locate the keys. Trim the big trees around your home, and get rid of loose debris that may be in your yard. Have a battery-operated radio handy and flashlights of course, with a supply of extra batteries. In the pantry, have some food items that can be consumed without cooking and keep some big bottles of drinking water on hand.

For those of you new to Guam, and wondering what we’re talking about, be aware that severe storms occasionally affect Guam. We’ve had some doozies in the past. After Pamela, the power was out islandwide for many weeks, water well pumps stopped working, and huge amounts of debris had to be cleaned up. If you’re wondering why most homes and buildings here look a little blocky and fortress-like, it’s because the steel-reinforced concrete structures are designed and built to remain intact in heavy weather. Anything not made of concrete is likely to suffer serious damage.

But don’t worry. Typhoons seldom kill or injure anybody, and we always recover, stronger and better than ever. Just be prepared.