Tropical Storm Irene battered the U.S. Virgin Islands Sunday and early Monday before building to hurricane strength, but Government House spokesman Jean Greaux said at 7:30 a.m. that government workers across the territory are to report to work at 10 a.m.
The University of the Virgin Islands is open on a normal schedule, he said.
“For the most part, roads are pasaable,” Greaus said.
There is some flooding in low-lying areas. Greaux said he knows of flooding in Frederiksted, St. Croix, but other areas are inundated as well.
The Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas and the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix were officially reopened Monday after shutting down during the storm, said Virgin Islands Port Authority Executive Director Kenn Hobson. But all marine ports remain closed.
The airport runway on St. Croix was never closed but the terminal was reopened as of 6:30 a.m., Hobson said. The airport runway and terminal on St. Thomas were both re-opened at 7 a.m.
Seaports are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard, and spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said all ports across the territory remain closed while the Coast Guard evaluates them. Because of the closures, ferries between St. Thomas and St. John are not running.
There are reports of trees down in some areas, and some locations have no power. St. Croix is experiencing cell phone problems, and there are some Internet outages.
Greaux urged anyone who doesn’t have to be out and about to stay home for several hours to give crews time to clean up the roads.
Irene was still a tropical storm when it passed through the V.I.
“It’s pulling away and the rain is diminishing but you’re on the edge of the rain band,” Louis Rosa, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in San Juan, said at 7 a.m. Monday.
While it was still pretty gusty in some parts of the territory, Rosa said he expects conditions to improve as the day goes on.
A press release from VITEMA stated the territory remains on a tropical storm and flash flood warning as well as a hurricane watch through Monday. A hurricane warning is in effect for the coastal waters and the weather service is forecasting rainfall amounts of 5-10 inches, likely to cause flash flooding of guts and urban areas.
Rosa said he had a report of a 41 mph gust on St. Thomas Sunday and a 60 mph guest on St. Croix. Weather Station Zephry at Ajax Peak, St. John, had a 47 mph gust at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
At 10 a.m. the center of Irene was 105 miles west-northwest of San Juan. Maximum sustained winds were 80 mph, and the storm was moving west-northwest at 13 mph.
National Hurricane Center forecaster Lixion Avila noted that Irene’s center was not expected to pass over the Hispaniola landmass and thus was expected to strengthen significantly. The center’s predicted path brings Irene ashore along the southern U.S. East Coast as a major hurricane.
