El Niño drought; US major-disaster declaration DR-1213 dated 3 April (an FSM release says 27 April).

What happened

The US declaration first covered only some islands, including Oroluk and Pakin in Pohnpei and Parem, Etten, Piis-Pareu and Pollap in Chuuk. The main islands of Weno, Pohnpei and Kosrae were left out because the FSM’s first request had not reported them. NOAA later judged this 1997–98 drought in Chuuk worse than the one in 2016.