At a Glance

In the Northern Mariana Islands, Typhoon Yutu left severe damage after landfall five days ago.For one island in particular – Tinian Island – residents have been left with little, devastated by the storm.Local leaders say stores on the island have run out of supplies, and they're not being restocked.

It has been five days since Typhoon Yutu in the Northern Mariana Islands, but for one island inthis United States commonwealth, recovery is going to be a lengthy operation, and resources are already running low.

Tinian Island and its 3,500 residents – all of which are either U.S. citizens or nationals – rode out the storm as it passed directly over the Pacific island. At one point, the entire island could be seen on radar inside the storm's eye, an image that portends disaster for anything unlucky enough to be caught in the middle.

Five days later, the island is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.Joey Patrick San Nicolas, the mayor of Tinian Island, told the Guam Daily Post that in some parts of the island that stores are out of essential items and have not been restocked.

"There is no running water, our stores have run out of drinking waterand our gas stations are currently inoperable," he told the GuamDaily Post.

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San Nicolas said the island's residents are now receiving water from a local aquifer, but the devastated island will need plenty of help in the months ahead as homes are rebuilt and normalcyeventually resumes. It could take months , Radio New Zealand reported, since dozens of power poles were downed by the storm.

The good news, according to the Guam Daily Post, is that the island's airport has reopened, and supplies are being flown in. How much they're getting is unclear, and it's not yet known if those flights will continue indefinitely, or if they're for a limited time only.

But the longer stores are empty and electricity remains out, the closer Tinian Island gets to a full-blown humanitarian disaster.

"Please do not lose hope," San Nicolas told the GuamDaily Post."We will get through this together."