Gov. Charles W. Turnbull called media around 10:15 a.m. Thursday to advise he would lift the curfew on St. Thomas and St. John as of noon. But due to weather and road conditions on St. Croix, the governor said, the curfew would remain in effect until further notice on the big island.
St. Croix was by far the hardest hit of all the Virgin Islands as the freak Hurricane Lenny moved from west to east Wednesday across the islands, packing winds of up to 150 mph.
Although Lenny's eye never struck St. Croix directly, there was widespread flooding and trees were knocked down on the south shore of the southernmost of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The governor prevailed upon residents to stay home unless there was a vital reason for them to be on the streets.
Ports remained closed by Commander Joseph Servidio of the U.S. Coast Guard as of 11 a.m. due to hurricane warnings still in place for the Virgin Islands, according to a release from The West Indian Company Ltd.
Spokesman Calvin Wheatley said WICO employees had begun cleanup and it was expected that the Havensight Shopping Mall would reopen on Friday morning. There was some flooding and debris in the area of WICO's docks but no structural damage to the docks or the shopping center.
Wheatley said as soon as permission was granted for the ports to reopen, the public would be informed.
Port Authority spokeswoman Shirley Smith said the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas opened at 9:15 a.m. She said travelers should contact the specific airlines for schedules.
The Henry E. Rolsen Airport on St. Croix remained closed, Smith said.
As of the 11 a.m. weather update on Radio One, Hurricane Lenny remained stationery at 63 miles east of St. Croix. Radio One meteorologist Roy Ward said it was too soon to project what Lenny would do.
The storm is being affected by three weather systems, which could result in the storm turning back to the west.
Most models, Ward said, have the storm eventually moving slowly to the east-northeast again. But the late-season storm has not moved significantly for the last several hours.
