Oct. 20, 2008 — The Virgin Islands is making progress in repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Omar, with schools slated to open Tuesday, Governor John deJongh Jr. said at a Monday afternoon press conference in Christiansted.
But things aren't back to normal, and as if to illustrate the point, the press conference took place on the battered boardwalk in Christiansted harbor, with the masts and even hulls of overturned boats dotting the water while the governor and other officials spoke.
The following information about post-hurricane progress was provided Monday by deJongh, Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls, WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge and Capt. Ed Pina of the U.S. Coast Guard:
— At the start of the day Monday five schools on St. Croix still needed work before they could reopen, deJongh said, but all will be ready Tuesday. Also, the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands will be ready to reopen Tuesday, he added.
— Electricity is completely restored on St. Thomas and St. John, and was expected to be 90-percent restored on St. Croix by Monday night, Hodge said. At the same time he recognized that some areas of St. Croix, particularly on the eastern and western ends of the island, are still without power, and urged the residents to "bear with us."
— WAPA redirected its efforts Monday to making sure that all schools will have electricity for the resumption of classes Tuesday. Then work will return to getting power to residences. To help with the work, 30 WAPA employees from St. Thomas and St. John, along with plenty of equipment, have been brought over to St. Croix and will remain on island "until it's done," Hodge said.
— In the next day or two, the governor's office will begin surveying local businesses and gathering information needed for them to seek assistance from the federal Small Business Administration and FEMA.
— Debris has been cleared on St. Thomas and St. John, Smalls said. On St. Croix, the hardest hit of the three islands, the emphasis has been on removing debris from the main thoroughfares, including the Queen Mary and Melvin Evans highways. By Wednesday Public Works should be able to release a schedule of when crews will remove debris from neighborhoods throughout the island, Smalls said.
— Nine traffic signals on St. Croix were still damaged and not working Monday morning, Smalls said. He anticipated that at least four more would be back in working order by the end of the day Monday.
— More than 40 boats were sunk or driven ashore by Omar, according to Carlos Farchette, director of environmental enforcement for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. DPNR and the U.S. Coast Guard have ensured that fuel aboard the boats does not represent an environmental hazard, and contractors hired to remove, salvage or refloat the boats must submit a plan to DPNR showing how they will mitigate any future environmental hazard during the work.
Farchette emphasized that boat owners are responsible for the removal or salvage of their own boats. The department will work with them, but the owners have a 30-day deadline after the storm to remove the boat, or at least indicate to the department how and when they intend to do so. Failure to comply could result in fines or even forfeiture of any salvageable boats.
— Removal of the boats needs to be done quickly, deJongh said. "We can't wait 45 days. We can't wait 30 days," he said, adding that disabled and sunken boats in the harbor are hampering efforts to repair the Christiansted boardwalk. "Given the condition of the boardwalk, we have to do something sooner rather than later."
The boardwalk, Smalls said, was designed to give vertically with tide and wave action, but hadn't been engineered to withstand heavy lateral impacts such as it received from boats hitting it in the storm. Some areas of the walkway have been closed, and deJongh said residents will be encouraged to avoid the boardwalk until repairs are completed.
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