💧 Water and Power · U.S. Virgin Islands
WAPA reported storm restoration progress and warned against tampering with equipment on August 19, 2024
Official document: https://www.viwapa.vi/docs/default-source/2023-pr/press-release---(8.19.24)-tropical-storm-ernesto-restoration-efforts-and-advisory-to-the-public.pdf?sfvrsn=13c8a95_3
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority said on August 19, 2024, that restoration work continued following Tropical Storm Ernesto and warned residents and electricians not to touch or tamper with utility infrastructure, including power lines, streetlights and transformers.
WAPA said customers could experience power fluctuations as crews worked on isolated outages.
On St. Thomas, the authority said portions of feeders 6A, 7A, 6B, 8B, 9C and 7C had been restored, along with pocket outages across the island. On St. John, crews were repairing power lines and clearing vegetation to restore service along North Shore, Chocolate Hole and Fish Bay. On St. Croix, WAPA said several isolated outages had been restored on feeders 2A, 3A, 4A, 7B, 9B and 10B.
In the St. Thomas-St. John district, WAPA said reduced generation capacity caused by the loss of Wärtsilä 3 led to an outage of about 3 1/2 hours on feeders 7C, 9C and 8A before service was restored. On St. Croix, customers on feeder 9B lost power at about 12:30 p.m., and service was restored within 30 minutes, according to the authority.