Kimberlyn King-Hinds

CNMI Del. Kimberlyn King-Hinds delivered an urgent appeal on the U.S. House floor Thursday, warning that the Commonwealth's aging infrastructure, fragile economy and slow-moving federal policies have left the islands dangerously exposed — a vulnerability laid bare by the devastation of Super Typhoon Sinlaku.

Speaking on May 14, King-Hinds told colleagues that the Northern Mariana Islands are not only geographically distant — nearly twice as far from Washington, D.C., as Moscow — but are also living with systems "decades behind the rest of our country."

"Our power infrastructure was built over 40 years ago. Our water systems were built generations ago," she said. "Long before Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck our islands this year, our economy was already under extraordinary strain."