After the storm — the mess
Published: August 31, 2010
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
St. Thomas residents take on the job of clearing the road near Magens Bay.
Work crews clearing roadways and hauling off storm debris may be the most obvious remnants of Earl’s impact today, but the whole territory will be assessing the damage and trying to pick up where they left off when the storm interrupted business — and life — as usual.
Although he will have crews throughout the islands, V.I. Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls said he could not guarantee that the territory’s major thoroughfares will be open before the curfew ends at 9 a.m. on St. Thomas.
“Right now, just based on the preliminary assessment, there is a significant amount of debris,” Smalls said. “Because of nightfall, we really couldn’t get a good handle on it.”
Some of that debris on St. Thomas includes a mahogany tree that fell across the entrance to the West Indian Co. Ltd.’s dock and another large tree that fell in Mandela Circle. In addition, Skyline Drive, Smith Bay, Tutu Park and the North Side all had a significant number of downed trees, according to Smalls.
“It’s just about as bad on St. John,” Smalls said. “St. Croix was not impacted as greatly. However, we do have some trees down there as well. We’ve had some trees along Queen Mary Highway, as well as down in the Frederiksted area.”
Beyond the issues with the roads, the first order of the day throughout the territory is to see what damage Earl did.
In the wake of the hurricane, most of the damage was covered by darkness and the government was unsure how extensive it was, said Government House spokesman Jean Greaux.
In addition, the extent of the disruption to television and telephone services in the territory was unclear.
E. Clarke Garnett, chief executive officer of Innovative Communications Corp., said Monday night that he did not have an assessment of damages at that point.
He said that likely will be released today, once an assessment can be done.
Late Monday, however, some decisions had already been made.
The V.I. Education Department has canceled classes again today, and members of the department were expected to join together and evaluate the conditions of facilities, Greaux said.
The U.S. Coast Guard decided to wait for daybreak to determine whether navigational aids were still in place and the territory’s seaports and waterways throughout the territory could be opened, Greaux said.
Government operations have also been canceled for a second day, Greaux said.
Because of the precarious situation left behind by Hurricane Earl, a number of cruise lines have cancelled stops on St. Thomas for the rest of the week, and the Coast Guard’s recommendations will be made to the Captain of the Port to decide on the ports’ reopening, according to Greaux.
King Airport Manager José Nazario said he hopes to have commuter flights — including Seabourne and Cape Air — start running again by noon.
“So far we closed the airport until further notice, but we are going to be working hand in hand with our air carriers to see when they will want to resume service,” Nazario said.
However, no decision can be made until there is a full assessment of the airport facilities, he said.
In addition, the V.I. Port Authority was expected to assess airport conditions and determine how long before airports are up and running and the next flights can take off and land, Greaux said.
“Tomorrow is going to be a big day and we will learn a lot more about what really occurred,” said V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency Director Mark Walters on Monday. “If you look at the storm's path, it really wasn't supposed to hit us. With each update, the storm came closer and closer, and we were very fortunate to be where we are right now.”
