Breaking

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority in its latest power and potable water restoration update, revealed the areas territory-wide that it will be working to restore power to this week. They are:

On St. Croix, Feeder 1A will bring additional service to customers on Company Street, Hotel on the Cay and up to Canegata Ball Park. Work will continue on Feeder 5A along Queen Mary Highway, Sunny Isle Shopping Center and some restoration of customers in the Sion Farm area, and on Feeder 8B from Hannah’s Rest to the post office in Frederiksted. On Saturday, a section of Feeder 6A was prepared to be re-energized from the power plant toward the LBJ lift station.
On St. John, crews will work to energize portions of Feeders 7E and 9E with emphasis on downtown Cruz Bay, Mongoose Junction and Dolphin Market.
On St. Thomas, work will continue on Feeder 7A with service being restored from Nisky Center to portions of Estate Altona; on Feeder 6A in the Lindbergh Bay area; on 7C from Tutu Park Mall to the top of Cassi Hill via Four Winds including the Gomez Elementary School; on Feeder 9C from Fort Mylner to Turpentine Run via Brookman Road as well as on portions of Feeders 8B, 9B, 9D, and 10B to include: portions of Hospital Ground, Estate Thomas, Thomasville and Bovoni, the Phipps Racetrack, and the Boschulte Middle School. Over the last two days, crews have energized portions of Feeder 10A including offices of the V.I. Housing Finance Authority, Waste Management Authority and Hurley Funeral Home, as well as some customers on the main roadway to Cancryn Junior High School.

WAPA said 250 linemen will arrive on Friday, October 27 bringing the total off-island personnel to more than 500 persons in the Virgin Islands assisting with the restoration of electrical service. The linemen, engineers and other personnel are equally divided between the districts, and more than 200 pieces of equipment are here to support the restoration effort, WAPA said. As of Sunday, more than 7,200 customers have been restored. WAPA has a goal of restoring 90% service to all areas by late December.

The utility is advising residents that it is necessary to shut off standby generators when line crews are in your neighborhood restoring electrical service. A standby generator has the potential to back feed electricity to the grid which poses a severe safety risk to restoration crews.

WAPA personnel have removed electrical meters at locations where damage was apparent to either an electrical meter base and/or weather head. Home and business owners are advised to make repairs to their damaged weather heads and/or meter bases as soon as possible. Once crews have reached your neighborhood, those customers who have not had their weather head or meter base repaired, will not have service immediately restored.

Here’s WAPA’s latest potable water restoration update:

There are four days of emergency water storage on St. John, ten days on St. Thomas and four days on St. Croix.
On St. John and St. Croix, all pump stations are on line and functioning normally.
On St. Thomas, repairs to the Contant Knolls pump station are expected to be completed on Monday allowing for a resumption of water service to the Contant Knolls housing community and surrounding areas of Estate Contant.
WAPA reminds the public that a precautionary boil water notice for potable water customers is in place territory-wide. Due to a drop in water pressure, as a precaution, we advise that all water used for drinking, cooking, making infant formula or juices, making ice, brushing teeth, washing fruits or vegetables and washing dishes, be boiled. Bringing water to a rolling boil and maintaining for one full minute is sufficient.
Water must be adequately cooled before it can be used and should be stored in clean, covered containers. As an alternative, bottled water certified for sale by the Department of Health may be used.
WAPA reminds clean-up contractors and homeowners to exercise caution when piling debris on and around potable water meters. There are a growing number of instances where water meters are being damaged by clean-up equipment grading debris and causing damage to the roadside water meters. The continued damage by heavy equipment poses difficulty in maintaining or restoring potable water service to customers.

Other Information

Emergency Call Centers operate 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., seven days a week.
St. Thomas – St. John district, 340-774-1424; St. Croix district, 340-773-0150
WAPA telephone contact: St. Thomas – St. John district, 340-774-3552; St. Croix district, 340-773-2250
Customer Service Offices operate Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Sunny Isle on St. Croix and at Port of Sale Mall on St. Thomas
WAPA website: www.viwapa.vi