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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesTerritory Assesses Post-Irene Damage and Starts Cleanup

Territory Assesses Post-Irene Damage and Starts Cleanup

There was a shred of blue sky for about a minute Monday afternoon on St. John, but most of the day was cloudy, rainy and windy as what is now Hurricane Irene, with winds of 80 mph, set its sights elsewhere.

The territory’s tropical storm warning was lifted at midday, after the hurricane watch came down early Monday. That said, residents should expect some more rain and windy conditions until sometime Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service office in San Juan.

“There’s a very large area of clouds east, north and west over the Virgin Islands,” said NWS meteorologist Jose Alamo.

The poor weather is due to the “ever so slow” passage of Irene, Alamo said Monday. Once the hurricane has moved out of the area, it will continue to pull up a great deal of moisture from the south and east. Alamo said that will mean some more rain and clouds for the next few days.

As for what’s ahead after Irene is history, Alamo said there isn’t anything to cause immediate alarm. A tropical wave being watched by the National Hurricane Center has been slow to develop, and Alamo said computer models take it to the north and away from the territory.

In a conference call with members of the media, Gov. John deJongh Jr. said that if necessary, the government will apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. However, he said he won’t know until later in the week the price tag for the damages.

He touched on several topics during the call, noting that there were no reports of looting or other crime problems during the passage of Irene.

Government workers reported to their jobs at 10 a.m. or as soon as they could, the governor said. “The government was operational,” he said.

The governor did a flyover of St. Croix late Monday afternoon to see the impacts from Irene, but said that he mostly saw downed trees and bushes as well as flooding near the Paul E. Joseph Stadium and Legislature building, on the Melvin Evans Highway, and along the Queen Mary Highway.

According to the governor, St. Croix has more serious power problems than the other islands. V.I. Water and Power Authority spokesman Kinila C. Paige said that feeders across the territory were all restored, but there are pockets of outages. She asked that residents call WAPA to report them.

On St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island, WAPA customers should call 774-1424, 777-9272 or 774-3552, dial 4. St. Croix customers should call 713-9272. Currently, limited calls are being accepted at 773-0150 and 773-2250, dial 7. The volume of calls is high so callers are asked to be patient. To ensure the phone lines remain open and available for other customers, call once to report an outage. Outages can also be reported at www.viwapa.vi.

Customers experiencing a loss of telephone, cable television, or Internet service are asked to wait until power has been fully restored in their area before calling Innovative to submit a request for repair. Due to increased call volume, call wait times may be slightly longer than usual.

Innovative reported in a press release that repairs continue across the territory to its cable, telephone service and Internet services. The company asked that customers for both services using land lines call call 912. Customers using cell phones can reach repair centers at 778-1742. Internet customers should call 714-3700. For all repairs include telephone number, account number, address, description of problem, and brief directions to the area in question in the voicemail message.

Airports on both St. Thomas and St. Croix were open with flights arriving and departing as normal.

All ports on St. Thomas and St. John are open. However, deJongh said that St. Thomas lost two cruise ship calls because St. Thomas ports didn’t open until the afternoon. On St. Croix, Lime Tree Bay, located near Hovensa, was open. U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said that all other St. Croix ports were closed, but they would be opened as soon as possible.

The ferries between Cruz Bay, St. John and Red Hook St. Thomas were operating only sporadically, with the last run from Red Hook expected at 7 p.m. A Varlack Ventures representative, who declined to give his name, said the ferries will operate normally on Tuesday.

No one could be reached at Transportation Services to find out if the Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie ferry will run on Tuesday. It did not operate Monday.

The damage to the territory’s marine community appears to be minimal. A sailboat sunk in Coral Bay Harbor, and an overturned Boston Whaler was spotted tossing in the waves off the Frederiksted waterfront. In Christiansted, one recreational vessel was loose while others dragged their anchors.

V.I. Waste Management Authority facilities were all expected to be back on line by 6 p.m., spokesman Stella Saunders said.

Saunders asked that residents not put their chopped up trees, bushes and other yard waste in the bins. While small amounts are okay as long as they’re under four feet and in a bag, she said that anything larger must go to the Bovoni or Anguilla landfills or the the Susanaberg transfer station.

“Bovoni has a site for residential waste,” she said, referring to the St. Thomas facility.

At the Anguilla landfill on St. Croix, a bin was placed at the entrance so residents don’t have to drive down the muddy access road. Saunders said the Susanaberg facility on St. John has a designated area for yard waste.

The Planning and Natural Resources Department is in the midst of testing the water at the territory’s beaches, spokesman Jamal Nielsen said. Because testing isn’t yet completed, the department advised residents to stay out of the water because of increased bacteria levels.

Planning also urged residents to protect their drinking water by adding six ounces of liquid bleach to every 1,000 gallons of water in the cistern. Let it sit for four hours before using. Small quantities should be boiled before using.

Shelters closed early Monday. According to a VITEMA press release, on St. Thomas, one person took shelter at Knud Hansen Complex. St. John had eight people at the Julius E. Sprauve School shelter. On St. Croix, four people took shelter at St. Croix Educational Complex.

Like the rest of the territory, V.I. National Park on St. John got off pretty lightly. Superintendent Mark Hardgrove said there was a huge tree down across the North Shore road near Maho Bay, but crews had it removed by 9 a.m. There were also a slew of boulders in the road between Hawksnest Bay and Peace Hill, but Hardgrove said they’re now on the side of the road.

“But I’m sure we’ll have to do some work on the trails,” Hardgrove said.

He asked that hikers call the Visitor Center at 776-6201 if they see places on trails that need to be cleaned up.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was in the territory in advance of Irene, a press release from the agency indicated. It said that FEMA proactively deployed regional Incident Management Assistance Teams to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to coordinate with territory and local officials to identify needs and possible shortfalls impacting potential disaster response and recovery efforts. Additionally, FEMA had staff in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico emergency operations centers to further strengthen coordination.

While the territory got off lightly with Irene, and Emily earlier in the month, deJongh and V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Director Elton Lewis both urged residents not to be complacent when the next one comes down the pike.

“No one has any clue what the third one is going to do,” Lewis said.

He said that VITEMA will prepare for the next storm as if it was going to be a Category 5 storm with winds 156 mph and up, and he urged residents to do the same.

And he reminded them to make plans for their special needs family members as well as pets.

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