Breaking

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority has been making a lot of progress with its restoration efforts, with over 16,100 customers territory-wide now reenergized. Below, the latest update.

ELECTRIC SYSTEM

On St. Thomas Monday, crews energized primary circuits from Feeder 7A to 8B towards Lovenlund allowing for restoration of that community on Tuesday. Crews continued work restoring customers in Anna’s Retreat on Feeder 9C and the Tutu area on Feeder 7C. The restoration will continue toward St. Joseph & Rosendahl. Crews reenergized additional residential customers in Bordeaux, Crown & Hawk and Estate Pearl on Feeder 6A, and in Estate Altona on Feeder 7A. Reconstruction crews are dressing poles and placing new primary circuits in the Frenchtown community on Feeder 10A.
On St. John, crews are continuing to restore service to customers while reconstruction work is being done on primary circuits from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay. Customers restored on Monday included: St. John Concrete, Sirenusa, and George Simmonds Terrace. Other crews planted poles for single-phase electrical service in various residential areas and prepared circuits to be reenergized in Estate Bethany.
On St. Croix, approximately 65% of Frederiksted town has been reenergized on Feeder 8B, as well as some customers in Estate Whim. On Feeder 5A, the Ricardo Richards Elementary School has been restored as well as some residential customers in Estates Barron Spot and Ruby along with the Flamboyant Gardens elderly home. About 95% of Little Princesse Hill is re-energized on Feeder 4A, and on Feeder 2A, customers in East Street, Christiansted and Tide Village have been restored. Other facilities now on the grid include: Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School, the WAPA potable water pump station in Estate Welcome and the VIPD station in Estate Richmond. On Tuesday, crews will continue work in Estate Rattan on Feeder 4A. Other crews will also begin working to energize from the west airport road along the Queen Mary Highway to the east airport road, allowing service to be restored along Paradise Road around to the Louis E. Brown Senior Villas. Additional work is also scheduled later this week on Feeder 3A from Catherine’s Rest toward Hermon Hill.
WAPA advises homeowners across the Virgin Islands that through an agreement reached between WAPA and the Department of Planning & Natural Resources, WAPA will energize homes with temporary roofs once a licensed electrician inspects and certifies that the structure is safe to energize.
WAPA reminds the public that several hurricane debris removal crews are deployed across the islands. Motorists are asked to exercise caution when traversing around the heavy equipment being used to pick up downed poles, transformers, wire and other equipment. On St. Thomas, crews worked recently in the area of the Contant Car Wash, Soto Town, in Lindbergh Bay, along the Donoe bypass road, Wintberg, and near Anna’s Retreat Heights. Crews will work on Tuesday in areas including: Mandahl, Smith Bay road, Anna’s Retreat and along St. Peter Mountain Road toward Mafolie. Debris removal crews are also working across the islands of St. John and St. Croix.
WAPA urges residents 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.
All electrical problems must be reported to the WAPA Emergency Call Centers to be properly documented and tracked. The Emergency Call Centers operate 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., seven days per week. St. Thomas – St. John: 340-774-1424 and St. Croix: 340-773-0150.
WAPA personnel has 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. Additionally, customers and electricians are reminded that it is against the law to remove or otherwise destroy meter seals. If work needs to be done to repair a damaged meter base and or weather head, contact WAPA’s Emergency Call Centers which operate seven days a week, 9 am – 5 pm.

POTABLE WATER SYSTEM

There are six days of emergency water storage on St. John, eight days on St. Thomas and five days on St. Croix.
Water distribution crews on St. Croix addressed leaks in Estate Whim and near the Vincent Mason pool over the weekend, as well as a loss of potable water pressure in Frederiksted. All issues have been resolved and pressure levels are returning to normal on the island’s west end.
WAPA urges clean-up contractors and homeowners in both districts 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 are operating Monday – Friday, 9 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