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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesISLANDS SPARED SERIOUS DAMAGE

ISLANDS SPARED SERIOUS DAMAGE

A weakened Hurricane Jose passed St. Thomas and St. John early this morning without doing serious damage.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced he was not aware of any injuries or substantial damage as Jose headed in a west northwest direction away from the Virgin Islands.
Similar reports came from St. Croix.
Turnbull did say wind gusts of 30 to 40 miles an hour were expected through the remainder of the morning.
Once the worst was over, the National Weather Service downgraded its hurricane warning to a tropical storm warning for the Virgin Islands. Jose may lose its hurricane status later today, weather reports said.
Already, there were signs conditions in the islands were quickly returning to normal.
Turnbull said a curfew on St. Thomas and St. John will end at 1 p.m.
Only essential government employees were to report to work Thursday. Turnbull said all government offices would reopen Friday.
Lt. j.g. Jose Quinones of the Coast Guard in San Juan said the ports in the territory remained closed Thursday morning as port assessments were being done.
Quinones said he expected the ports to reopen by Thursday afternoon.
The shelters on St. Thomas and St. John are scheduled to close at 1 p.m., according to Turnbull.
Shelters on St. Croix closed at 9 a.m.
Brenda Boone of American Airlines called WSTA Radio to say American would not be bringing in any flights today.
And Delta Airlines was unable to bring in aircraft on Wednesday, so their morning flight will not go out.
The Cyril E. King Airport reopened at 8:05 a.m., according to V.I. Port Authority spokesperson, Shirley Smith, who called WSTA. The Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix reopened at 8:30.
Katrina White-Comissiong, spokesperson for the V.I. Telephone Corporation, said all category one employees, managers and supervisors on St. Thomas were to report to work.
On St. Croix only VITELCO managers, supervisors and the assessment team were to report to work.
Director of Office of Management and Budget Ira Mills has asked members of the damage assessment team to report to the VITEMA office at 9:30.
Mills said, "The team members know who they are."
He said the team is made up of officials from Planning and Natural Resources, the Public Works Department, Internal Revenue Bureau, Housing Authority and the Tax Assessors Office.
No one was available at the inter-island ferry services for information on when service between St. Thomas and St. John would resume.

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