Don’t look for any improvement in the weather until Saturday, meteorologist Luis Rosa at the National Weather Service in San Juan, said at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"It will be pretty wet today," Rosa said.
Residents across the territory should also expect to see intermittent thunderstorms, Rosa said. Wind gusts will hit 25 miles per hour. The territory remains on a flash flood watch.
Public schools across the territory are closed all day Wednesday, Gov. John deJongh Jr. said in an early morning radio announcement. He also said that non-essential government workers should stay home until noon. He said he would decide later in the morning if they should return to work later Wednesday.
On St Thomas the Antilles School and the V.I. Montessori Schol and International Academy also closed for the day because of the rain,
Reports from across the territory indicate flooding in some areas as well as landslides. There was a landslide reported on Crown Mountain Road on St. Thomas.
On St John, landslides were reported on Center Line Road in Coral Bay and in Calabash Boom. Both roads are partially open. The bridge on the South Side road near the Westin Resort collapsed, according to V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency offiicials.
Power was out in many locations around the territory. A transformer blew around 3 a.m. in Coral Bay, St. John, leaving the area without electricity.
Cassandra Dunn, V.I. Water and Power Authority spokeswoman, said early Wednesday that all feeders are on. However, weather conditions have caused problems in isolated areas, which line crews are working to fix.
"The line crews are out there already," she said. "We definitely have a lot of problems all around, so we did activate our call center on St. Thomas. On St. Croix we do have some problems, but not as many so we have not activated our call center yet, but the line department is taking calls from residents without power."
Residents on St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island can call 777-9272 or 777-WAPA to report outages, while residents on St. Croix can call 773-0150 or 773-2250, extension 305.
Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas remained open Wednesday morning, but airport employee Gwen Gumbs said she expected delays.
The bad weather is part of a system that began dumping rain on the territory Monday. It became Tropical Depression 17 at the 5 a.m. Wednesday update.
Rosa said its center sits 200 miles north of Puerto Rico but the rain extends far to the south.
"It’s bringing lots of moisture," Rosa said.
He said that 4.5 inches of rain was reported on St. Croix and 6 inces on St. Thomas. Weather station Zephyr at Ajax Peak St. John reported 2.43 between midnight and 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
According to Rosa, a wind gust at 52 miles per hour occurred Tuesday on St. Thomas.
