St. Croix cleanup after storm well underway

ST. CROIX — As Hurricane Earl’s aftermath became apparent Tuesday morning, there was little more to the damage than debris,  uprooted trees and tilted utility poles with downed wires.

Power still was out at daybreak, but the V.I. Water and Power Authority crews had restored electricity in many areas by midday.

The governor said that St. Croix’s power restoration was moving at a faster pace because the island suffered less extensive damage than elsewhere in the territory.

Most roads were in decent condition and navigable, with few areas of deep, standing water. Some traffic lights were flashing, while others still weren’t working, leaving intersections perilous at times.

Maintenance crews lined roadsides with machetes and chainsaws, dealing with wild limbs that were sticking out into the road. Many people said they started work immediately after curfew broke Tuesday at 7 a.m.

Along Route 80 on St. Croix’s north shore, a number of electrical wires were down — some slithering into the road and forcing cautious navigation. Still, a number of buildings along the road still had power.

In Frederiksted, the storm’s wind and wave action left two boats grounded along Dorsch Beach.

The storm tore away some of the flooring from the small pier near the Frederiksted fish market, leaving large areas open to the sea below.

On Tuesday, young people ran along the side of the pier, then leaped into the pounding waves, splashing around and body surfing.

Waves crashed in heavily along most of the coast, and surfers paddled out to take advantage of the action.

Michael Gelardi took his 6-year-old son, Gabriel, out to Cane Bay, down the hill from their home to a beach shallow enough for him to wade out and help his son catch a wave.

“This is an awesome day,” Michael said, as Gabriel, who attends AZ Academy, took the chance to get up on some larger waves.

“Last day of surfing before school starts,” he said.

While Off the Wall Beach Bar and Restaurant never lost power, farther down the road, the Carambola Beach Resort and Spa had not had power from WAPA since about 4 a.m. Monday.

“The main thing was the electricity going down, which WAPA still doesn’t have up,” Eddie Sipple, the resort’s general manager, said Tuesday afternoon.

The resort was running two generators to supply enough power to the guests’ rooms and some common areas, but the idle ceiling fans were evidence of the low power.

The resort had about 100 guests, who were “very understanding,” Sipple said, and many gathered Monday for a games night, where the staff supplied board games to play in the common area, Sipple said.

The staff also was diligent about keeping guests updated, he said.

“We put a note in their room the day before to let them know what to expect, and we had a TV in the lobby to keep them updated about what’s going on,” Sipple said.

Guests at Divi Carina Bay Resort received similar notices from the hotel management, said Assistant General Manager Kevin Jackson.

About 140 people staying at the resort Monday were given updates by the staff on an hourly basis through letters and messages via their room telephones, Jackson said.

“They weren’t freaking at all,” Jackson said. “As long as you let people know, they’re usually fine.”

The resort produces its own power and was able to offer uninterrupted Internet access throughout the storm, he said.

For both resorts, Tuesday was consumed with small groundskeeping work: cleaning up debris, standing up a tree or two, testing the pool water and raking the beach.

At the Buccaneer Golf Course, a group teed off early Tuesday morning, with little more than some winds to remind them that a hurricane had passed to the north the day before.

Sign up for Text Alerts

Sign up for e-mail newsletters