WAKE ISLAND GOT HIT:

Super Typhoon Ioke has made a direct hit on Wake Island, pounding the tiny U.S. Pacific territory with catastrophic winds of up to 300 kilometers an hour.

Ioke is the strongest central Pacific typhoon in at least 12 years. Forecasters expect the “monster” storm to submerge Wake Island and destroy everything on it that is not made of concrete.

The winds were strong enough to blow out the weather gear, but it recorded gusts of 190 mph before failing.

UPDATE: Brendan Loy thinks I’m misreading the gusts bit:

I think you’re misreading the linked AP article (at the L.A. Times website) about Supertyphoon Ioke. I would be very, very surprised if the weather instruments on Wake Island survived long enough to actually measure 190 mph wind gusts. And I don’t believe the AP is saying that they did. The article says: “the instruments blew out as the storm approached with winds up to 155 mph and gusts up to 190 mph.” The description of what the storm “approached with” refers, I believe, to the official National Hurricane Center estimate of the storm’s strength as it approached — not to any actual measurements at Wake Island. A little strangely worded, but I think that’s what it means.

Er, okay, though that does seem strangely worded. Either way, I’m certainly glad I wasn’t there to experience it firsthand.