High Winds Causing Outages On St. Croix; WAPA Restores Feeder 7A In St. Thomas

The high winds of the last few days have caused on-again, off-again electrical service interruptions across portions of St. Croix, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority has announced.

“Customers on St. Croix Feeders 3A and 6A were affected on Sunday and again on Monday by either trees contacting primary lines or lines coming in contact with each other as a result of the high winds. Service interruptions were also experienced Monday on Feeder 10B,” WAPA Executive Director Julio A. Rhymer, Sr. said.

Strong winds continued into Tuesday morning on St. Croix, along with sporadic showers.

WAPA also announced that it restored full electric service to St. Thomas Feeder 7A just before 12 noon on Monday, after addressing the cause of a fault which impacted a portion of the feeder.

Problems on Feeder 7A began around 2 a.m. Monday and at one time, affected more than 750 customers on St. Peter Mountain Road, Barrett Hill, Hull Bay and Estates Lilliendahl and Marienhoj.

Mr. Rhymer said a tripped recloser, an automated device on a utility pole near the Four Corners intersection, was responsible for the service interruption to WAPA’s customers. “At first light, line crews were dispatched to the area and found tree branches resting on the primary electric lines which caused the recloser to open. WAPA’s tree trimming contractor, ASPLUNDH, was immediately mobilized to clear the lines. Service restoration could not be achieved until the lines had been of the overgrown brush,” he said.

Mr. Rhymer said the tree trimming activity continued through much of the morning with personnel cutting back trees and limbs for more than 1.75 miles along the main roadway.

“We began to clear growth from the lines just east of the Suicide Hill roadway along St. Peter Mountain Road, to near the Roman Catholic Church. The rains of the last three months have accelerated growth and we are finding more and more of our transmission and distribution system assets being impacted by tree branches, overgrowth and in some instances, rodents and iguanas coming in contact with the lines.”