ST. CROIX — As Hurricane Erin passed north of the Virgin Islands Saturday, the Category 5 storm brought heavy rains and moderate winds to the territory, particularly on St. Thomas and St. John, knocking out power for thousands of residents territory wide, according to officials.
As crews work to restore power, the territory’s airports and seaports are open today. The passenger ferries are also operating. The landfills and convenience centers are closed.
While there were no major injuries or structural damage reported, crews with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority continue working to restore power for 14,000 customers in the St. Thomas/St. John District, and 400 on St. Croix.
“On the island of St. Thomas and on St. John, we’re seeing a lot more impact due to the heavier rains and stronger winds from Hurricane Erin,” WAPA Spokesperson Shanell Petersen said.
As WAPA crews make repairs, they are focusing on critical areas affected by a downed transmission line — Feeder 13 — on St. Thomas. The Randolph Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas is now at full generation, so there are no more rotating outages.
“Our power plant is maintaining power for all customers that are online,” Petersen said.
As power gets restored to different feeders, Petersen said there are still isolated outages that require line clearance.
“Even as the majority of customers on a particular feeder have been restored, there are going to be a few customers on those feeders that still will be without power,” she said.
Following repairs to its transmission line on St. Thomas, Petersen said crews are focusing on restoring power to such areas as Caret Bay, Plantation Manor, Contant, and Lindbergh. On St. Croix, the focus was on Feeders 6A and 7B.
“Feeder 6A has been restored on St. Croix,” Petersen said.
However, there is no timeline for full restoration due to weather conditions.
“Once we have more consistency on ideal weather conditions for safety purposes, then we will be able to provide some better estimations on when people can expect to be restored,” she said, urging residents who report outages to include their address, account number, and contact information.
As WAPA works to restore power, the territory’s airports and seaports are open.
The U.S. Coast Guard set Port Condition IV at 7 a.m. today.
“Port Condition IV is when operations return to normal — cargo operations and ship operations,” Ricardo Castrodad, U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson, said. “The port is open for all inbound and outbound vessel traffic.”
Castrodad urged beachgoers to stay out of the water due to life-threatening rip currents, noting that St. Croix Rescue responded to save two scuba divers who were out in the storm on Saturday.
“So, for people going in the water, conditions are not normal, and they should still wait until those conditions subside and come back to normal before challenging Mother Nature,” he said. “That’s our biggest concern.”
Although the airports are open, flight delays have been reported.
“A couple of the airport’s flights have been delayed, so if you’re traveling, make sure you check on your airport status,” Daryl Jaschen, Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency director, said.
The storm brought about 1 inch of rain to St. Croix, about 4 inches to St. Thomas, and up to 6 inches to St. John, Jaschen said. He added that nothing of significance was reported to 911.
Passenger ferries in the Virgin Islands have been operating since 5 a.m. today, according to Monifa Marrero Brathwaite, Virgin Islands Port Authority spokesperson. She said, however, that VIPA was waiting for an update from the operators of the vehicle ferries to determine their schedules. She said no ferries would be traveling to the British Virgin Islands today, as the seaports there remain closed.
While the ports are open, the territory’s landfills and convenience centers are closed today, along with the Susannaberg Transfer Station on St. John, according to the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority.
Now that Hurricane Erin has passed the territory, Jaschen said VITEMA is monitoring a tropical wave coming off Africa that has about a 20% chance of developing into a storm over the next week.
“There is a little event that’s going to be happening potentially later on this week,” he said.
