Monday, September 11, 2017

Update on Virgin Islands

These are excerpts from an on-line newsletter out of the Virgin Islands:
Governor Kenneth Mapp was on St. John Sunday with FEMA officials making an assessment of damage to that island.   
St John, which suffered significant impact from Hurricane Irma, began receiving emergency supplies by air to St Thomas and by sea on Saturday.     (570 meals and 900 liters of water) 
At a late morning briefing, Gov. Mapp said more roof tarps would be delivered to St John on Sunday. 
The Cyril E. King Airport on St Thomas is only open for relief efforts. 
The V.I. Water & Power Authority continues to be hampered by traffic in violation of the curfew--which remains in place from 6 pm until noon.  The governor warned residents that arrests will be made if necessary.  St John has been without electrical service for more than 5 days.
Mapp acknowledged people are getting frustrated by the long process of recovery and assured Virgin Islanders that resources are coming.  He reported there is power to the underwater cable to St John and they plan to work on restoring power.  (That sounds very indecisive to me) He pledged more support to St John, including evacuating the critically ill, bringing in more diesel fuel for generators and getting Coast Guard clearance for ferry service. 


It is so terribly sad to think of those beautiful islands in such severe distress.  The New York Times is reporting violence on the Dutch and French Islands as the food and water have run out.  I'm crossing my fingers that enough relief comes to St John before violence breaks out there.


1 comment:

  1. We loved St John, St Martin and St Thomas when we were there a few years ago. So sad to see the pictures now. So many poor people on those islands who have now lost what little they had.

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