May 25, 2005 – Between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Monday morning not many residents in the Christiansted area on St. Croix were sleeping.
A strange mixture of low pressure, high temperatures, unstable air masses, and high moisture brought a severe thunderstorm to the island. Many residents reported peals of thunder longer and louder than anything they every heard before. Tammy Gumms of Estate Hermon Hill said, "That was the worst storm I have ever heard here."
In at least one neighborhood the lightning set off a car alarm adding to the outside clamor.
A couple residents said they kept looking at their clock and wondering, "Why do we still have power?"
Although the power never went out, the island did not go unscathed.
The St. John Anglican Church in Christiansted lost one of its spires. Chunks of it still littered the church yard on Wednesday. A report in the Avis said that several parked vehicles had been damaged by the falling spire, but no one was injured.
The church is on the historical register and claims to be one of the oldest in the Caribbean. The original church was built on the site on King Street in 1760 and Alexander Hamilton's mother was listed as an attendee. A new building replaced the old building in 1850 only to burn down in 1866.
The present church was built in 1855 in the gothic revival style popular with Anglican churches of the Victorian Age.
The spire that went down in Monday's storm was not the first spire lost by the church. Only three of four spires remain on its main steeple.
The church is still the site of many weddings and funerals and continues regular Sunday services.
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