In anticipation of having 75 percent of power restored on St. Croix by Wednesday, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull changed the island's curfew to 12 midnight until 6 a.m., a move welcomed by most Crucians, who have complained bitterly on the talk radio shows this week about the curfew.
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority expects to have St. Croix restored to 85 percent of its normal electrical load by this weekend, according to a release from WAPA Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday evening, 70 percent of St. Croix’s normal electrical load before Hurricane Lenny had been restored. Raymond George, executive director of WAPA, said he expects 75 percent of the load to be restored by Wednesday evening.
George said he would know Wednesday if linemen from the Puerto Rico Electrical Authority would be sent to St. Croix to assist in the recovery. Every effort is being made to have PREPA crews on St. Croix by the weekend.
Offers of help from Southern Energy, the company that was contracted after Hugo and Marilyn and that is trying to buy WAPA, were rejected earlier this week.
The release said that having President Clinton declare the Virgin Islands a disaster area would permit WAPA to move the PREPA linemen to St. Croix on an expedited basis through the Federal Emergency Management Agency .
The utility would not have funds, without the disaster declaration, to bring any outside linemen into the territory to assist with the Hurricane Lenny Recovery, the release said.
PREPA lineman assisted WAPA in the Hurricane Hugo and Marilyn recovery efforts. Lineman from the St. Thomas/St. John Water Island District were sent to St. Croix on Tuesday to work in the east end. The addition of the St. Thomas/St. John lineman will expedite the recovery effort by one week.
Meanwhile , parts of St. Thomas experienced power outages on Wednesday afternoon. Feeders 8 and 7A were down due to condensation on Unit 18, according to WAPA spokeswoman Patricia Blade Simmonds.
