The Water and Power Authority got good grades for providing electrical power to most areas during Hurricane Jose.
As of 10:30 a.m. Patricia Blake Simmonds, spokesperson for WAPA, reported the following areas were experiencing difficulties:
On St. John the Bordeaux area is experiencing problems. Crews are out working to restore power.
Problems are being experienced on Water Island. Crews have been dispatched to work on the problems.
On St. Thomas problems have been experienced throughout the night and morning on parts of feeder seven affecting North Star Village, Peterborg and the Four Corners crossroad. Problems with feeder six are affecting upper Caret Bay, Crown and Hawk, Dorothea and Solberg, specifically Harbor View. Problems with feeder 10 are affecting areas of upper Estate St. Thomas.
On St. Croix, feeder two has been restored, but the area from Crusher to Grove Place is still experiencing an outage. The north shore area is also experiencing difficulties due to seablast, debris and trees on the lines.
Blake said all feeders are functioning, but residents can anticipate intermittent outages as crews work to repair equipment damaged by Hurricane Jose.
Emergency numbers are 774-1424 on St. Thomas and St. John and 773-0150 on St. Croix. Blake said 774-3552 is also being manned on St. Thomas.
"Potable water held up," Blake said.

As dawn brought Virgin Islanders the welcome news that Hurricane Jose had diminished in strength to barely Category 1 status in the early hours of Thursday, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced that he was lifting the curfew on St. Croix at once and would call it off on St. Thomas and St. John as of 1 p.m.
The governor said he had received no reports of "injuries or damage of any consequence as a result of the storm" anywhere in the territory.
St. Croix escaped Jose's hurricane-force winds altogether, experiencing only the tropical storm-force winds overnight and mid-morning. As the system appeared to be breaking up this morning, there was a good possibility it would be downgraded to a tropical storm in the National Weather Service 11 a.m. advisory, local weather experts said.
The 8 a.m. coordinates placed the storm center at 18.4 north latitude and and 64.7 west longitude, very close to St. John. The highest sustained winds were 75 mph as the hurricane moved west to northwest at 14 mph, and rain was spotty.
St. Croix's Henry E. Rohlsen Airport reopened at 8:30 a.m. — after the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas resumed operations at 8:05. However, Delta Air Lines had announced on Wednesday that it was canceling its overnight flight that normally departs in the morning, and Brenda Boone of American Airlines said this morning that there would be no American service today. Port Authority nonessential airport personnel were to report to work this morning on St. Croix and this afternoon on St. Thomas.
In explaining his decision to continue the curfew on St. Thomas and St. John until 1 p.m., the governor said in a call-in to the first hour of "The Morning Show" on WSTA Radio, "Although it is rather calm now, we expect gusts of winds between 30 and 40 mph between 10 and 11 a.m."
Emergency shelters were closed at 9 a.m. on St. Croix and were to close as of the lifting of the curfew at 1 p.m. on St. Thomas and St. John, Turnbull said.
He said government offices and schools will remain closed today throughout the territory.
Office of Management and Budget director Ira Mills issued a call for members of the administration's "damage assessment team" to report to the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency headquarters on St. Thomas at 9:30 a.m. The team comprises representatives of the Planning and Natural Resources and Public Works Departments, the Housing Authority, the Internal Revenue Bureau and the Tax Assessor's Office, and "they know who they are," he said over WSTA Radio.
In broadcast messages, the governor asked commissioners and agency heads on St. Croix early this morning "to go and assess damage in their departments now." On St. Thomas and St. John, he said, "We would like that to be done after the 1 p.m. curfew is lifted." School principals were to report to their schools on the same bases in the two districts to conduct damage assessments.
Roan Creque of Public Works came on the air on WSTA to advise the trash haulers under government contract that as emergency service personnel they were exempt from the curfew and that they were needed to get out on the roads this morning to deal with overflowing garbage bins. Designated Vitelco and U.S. Postal Service personnel were to begin reporting to work this morning, exempt from the curfew, officials announced.
Turnbull thanked "everyone for being calm, for obeying the law," saying there had been "almost 100 percent compliance with the curfew, and I felt very proud of that." Terming the public response to the hurricane a "successful operation," he expressed thanks to the personnel of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard, Police and Public Works Departments, Water And Power Authority, Federal Emergency Management Agency, American Red Cross, churches and other charitable organizations "who left their homes and families behind to serve the Virgin Islands."
Turnbull said he had been and would continue to be making "rounds of the shelters and other points on the island of St. Thomas" to keep informed of the local situation. He said Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II and St. Croix administrator Rupert Ross have been doing the same thing on that island, and St. John administrators Julien Harley and Elvis Christian have been doing so on St. John.

Virgin Islanders awoke early Thursday morning to the all-too-familiar sound of howling winds and the aroma of detritus in the air.
The Water and Power Authority maintained power throughout the night. But at 5:25 the first outage occurred on the north side of St. Thomas. No one could be reached at WAPA for further information.
The 5 a.m. update placed the center of Hurricane Jose within 30 miles east-northeast of St. Thomas near latitude 18.5 north and longitude 64.5 west. St. Thomas is located at 18.5 and 64.9.
At 5:30 a.m. the wind appeared to be strengthening, although reports from the National Weather Service said the warnings had been downgraded in the V.I. to Tropical Storm warnings. Jose was still packing winds of 75 mph at sea level, according to the National Weather Service.
It was still too dark to assess any damages at publication time.

It was a see-saw day of tension and tedium Wednesday as Virgin Islanders awaited each new tidbit of news about the unwelcome would-be visitor named Jose who was slowly but, it appeared by nightfall, almost surely making his way to their corner of the Caribbean.
Projections as of 8 p.m. called for the hurricane to pass about 50 miles northeast of St. Thomas and St. John around 7 a.m. Thursday, and for St. Croix to escape the full hurricane-force winds.
The coordinates of the storm issued by the National Weather Service in Miami at 11 p.m. placed the center of the Category 2 hurricane near 17.8 degrees north latitude and 63.0 degrees west longitude, about 115 miles east of St. Croix and 140 miles east-southeast of St. Thomas and St. John.
With maximum sustained winds of nearly 100 mph, Jose was moving between west-northwest and northwest at nearly 10 mph and was projected to continue doing so for another 24 hours. It that track holds true, residents of St. Thomas and St. John should start feeling sustained tropical storm-force winds (39-73 mph) with hurricane-force (at least 74 mph) gusts around 3 a.m. Thursday and continue to experience the storm's force until around 3 p.m., while St. Croix is expected to remain "just on the border" of the tropical storm-force winds.
However, the weather officials said, "any leftward [westward] deviation of the forecast track could then bring the threat of hurricane-force winds to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Culebra and Vieques."
Deviations were in part what kept the tension high Wednesday, as weather forecasters and government officials alternately expressed optimism that Hurricane Jose would continue to move more northward than westward, and warned Virgin Islanders not to be lulled into complacency. While Jose appeared at midday to be on its way to giving the territory a miss, it angled back to the west in the evening, again posing a threat, especially to St. Thomas and St. John.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull took to the radio airwaves at midmorning and again in the afternoon to reassure the community that all due precautions were being taken but also to urge everyone to remain "vigilant." The governor noted that he had already requested President Clinton to declare a federal state of emergency in the territory — a routine procedure to facilitate a rapid response in the immediate aftermath of a disaster — and said Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel were already in the territory. (The President can declare such an emergency only at the request of a "state" executive; once a disaster is declared, the first thing FEMA officials do is conduct a damage assessment at the disaster site.)
The day that dawned overcast with intermittent showers moved into a sunny calm in the afternoon, even as the airports closed down, ferry service was discontinued and a curfew ordered by the governor took effect at 6 p.m. Radio stations opted for their regular evening programming, and as midnight neared, only the rustle of leaves in the trees suggested that Wednesday night would lead to a dawn different from the one before.
Jose moved from a Category 1 to a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday when its sustained winds increased from around 90 mph to nearly 100 mph; otherwise, the storm's statistics changed little throughout the day and were expected to remain about the same overnight. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the core, and tropical storm-force winds extend out as far as 140 miles — but wind gusts can be much greater over higher elevations than at sea level. Outer rainbands were expected to produce moderate to heavy rainfall into the night, with an increased risk of flash flooding. The National Weather Service projected rainfall of 5 to 10 inches along Jose's path.
A coast flood watch remained in effect for the north, east and southeast coasts of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a heavy surf advisory with the likelihood of beach erosion continued for the whole territory. The latest minimum central pressure reported was 990 mb or 29.23 inches.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, a hurricane warning remained in effect for Montserrat, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Eustatius, Saba, Dutch Sint Maarten, and Anguilla, as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. A hurricane watch remained for French St. Martin and St. Barth's.

It was a see-saw day of tension and tedium Wednesday as Virgin Islanders awaited each new tidbit of news about the unwelcome would-be visitor named Jose who was slowly but, it appeared by nightfall, almost surely making his way to their corner of the Caribbean.
Projections as of 8 p.m. called for the hurricane to pass about 50 miles northeast of St. Thomas and St. John around 7 a.m. Thursday, and for St. Croix to escape the full hurricane-force winds.
The coordinates of the storm issued by the National Weather Service in Miami at 11 p.m. placed the center of the Category 2 hurricane near 17.8 degrees north latitude and 63.0 degrees west longitude, about 115 miles east of St. Croix and 140 miles east-southeast of St. Thomas and St. John.
With maximum sustained winds of nearly 100 mph, Jose was moving between west- northwest and northwest at nearly 10 mph and was projected to continue doing so for another 24 hours. It that track holds true, residents of St. Thomas and St. John should start feeling sustained tropical storm-force winds (39-73 mph) with hurricane-force (at least 74 mph) gusts around 3 a.m. Thursday and continue to experience the storm's force until around 3 p.m., while St. Croix is expected to remain "just on the border" of the tropical storm-force winds.
However, the weather officials said, "any leftward [westward] deviation of the forecast track could then bring the threat of hurricane-force winds to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Culebra and Vieques."
Deviations were in part what kept the tension high Wednesday, as weather forecasters and government officials alternately expressed optimism that Hurricane Jose would continue to move more northward than westward, and warned Virgin Islanders not to be lulled into complacency. While Jose appeared at midday to be on its way to giving the territory a miss, it angled back to the west in the evening, again posing a threat especially to St. Thomas and St. John.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull took to the radio airwaves at mid-morning and again in the mid- afternoon to reassure the community that all due precautions were being taken but also to urge everyone to remain "vigilant." The governor noted that he had already submitted his request for President Clinton to declare a federal state of emergency in the territory — a routine procedure to facilitate a rapid response in the immediate aftermath of a disaster — and said Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel were already in the territory. (The President can declare such an emergency only at the request of a "state" executive; once a disaster is declared, the first thing FEMA officials do is conduct a damage assessment at the disaster site.)
The day that dawned overcast with intermittent showers moved into a sunny calm in the afternoon, even as the airports closed down, ferry service was discontinued and a curfew ordered by the governor took effect at 6 p.m. Radio stations opted for their regular evening programming, and as midnight neared, only the rustle of leaves in the trees suggested that Wednesday night would lead to a dawn different from the one before.
Jose moved from a Category 1 to a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday when its sustained winds increased from around 90 mph to nearly 100 mph; otherwise, the storm's statistics changed little throughout the day and were expected to remain about the same overnight. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the core, and tropical storm-force winds extend out as far as 140 miles — but wind gusts can be much greater over higher elevations than at sea level. Outer rainbands were expected to produce moderate to heavy rainfall into the night, with an increased risk of flash flooding. The National Weather Service projected rainfall of 5 to 10 inches along Jose's path.
A coast flood watch remained in effect for the north, east and southeast coasts of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a heavy surf advisory with the likelihood of beach erosion continued for the whole territory. The latest minimum central pressure reported was 990 mb or 29.23 inches.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, a hurricane warning remained in effect for Montserrat, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Eustatius, Saba, Dutch Sint Maarten, and Anguilla, as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. A hurricane watch remained for French St. Martin and St. Barth's.

It was a see-saw day of tension and tedium Wednesday as Virgin Islanders awaited each new tidbit of news about the unwelcome would-be visitor named Jose who was slowly but, it appeared by nightfall, almost surely making his way to their corner of the Caribbean.
Projections as of 8 p.m. called for the hurricane to pass about 50 miles northeast of St. Thomas and St. John around 7 a.m. Thursday, and for St. Croix to escape the full hurricane-force winds.
The coordinates of the storm issued by the National Weather Service in Miami at 11 p.m. placed the center of the Category 2 hurricane near 17.8 degrees north latitude and 63.0 degrees west longitude, about 115 miles east of St. Croix and 140 miles east-southeast of St. Thomas and St. John.
With maximum sustained winds of nearly 100 mph, Jose was moving between west-northwest and northwest at nearly 10 mph and was projected to continue doing so for another 24 hours. It that track holds true, residents of St. Thomas and St. John should start feeling sustained tropical storm-force winds (39-73 mph) with hurricane-force (at least 74 mph) gusts around 3 a.m. Thursday and continue to experience the storm's force until around 3 p.m., while St. Croix is expected to remain "just on the border" of the tropical storm-force winds.
However, the weather officials said, "any leftward [westward] deviation of the forecast track could then bring the threat of hurricane-force winds to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Culebra and Vieques."
Deviations were in part what kept the tension high Wednesday, as weather forecasters and government officials alternately expressed optimism that Hurricane Jose would continue to move more northward than westward, and warned Virgin Islanders not to be lulled into complacency. While Jose appeared at midday to be on its way to giving the territory a miss, it angled back to the west in the evening, again posing a threat especially to St. Thomas and St. John.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull took to the radio airwaves at mid-morning and again in the mid-afternoon to reassure the community that all due precautions were being taken but also to urge everyone to remain "vigilant." The governor noted that he had already submitted his request for President Clinton to declare a federal state of emergency in the territory — a routine procedure to facilitate a rapid response in the immediate aftermath of a disaster — and said Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel were already in the territory. (The President can declare such an emergency only at the request of a "state" executive; once a disaster is declared, the first thing FEMA officials do is conduct a damage assessment at the disaster site.)
The day that dawned overcast with intermittent showers moved into a sunny calm in the afternoon, even as the airports closed down, ferry service was discontinued and a curfew ordered by the governor took effect at 6 p.m. Radio stations opted for their regular evening programming, and as midnight neared, only the rustle of leaves in the trees suggested that Wednesday night would lead to a dawn different from the one before.
Jose moved from a Category 1 to a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday when its sustained winds increased from around 90 mph to nearly 100 mph; otherwise, the storm's statistics changed little throughout the day and were expected to remain about the same overnight. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the core, and tropical storm-force winds extend out as far as 140 miles — but wind gusts can be much greater over higher elevations than at sea level. Outer rainbands were expected to produce moderate to heavy rainfall into the night, with an increased risk of flash flooding. The National Weather Service projected rainfall of 5 to 10 inches along Jose's path.
A coast flood watch remained in effect for the north, east and southeast coasts of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a heavy surf advisory with the likelihood of beach erosion continued for the whole territory. The latest minimum central pressure reported was 990 mb or 29.23 inches.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, a hurricane warning remained in effect for Montserrat, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Eustatius, Saba, Dutch Sint Maarten, and Anguilla, as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. A hurricane watch remained for French St. Martin and St. Barth's.

Wary Virgin Islanders tried to sleep Wednesday night, hopeful Hurricane Jose would pass them by instead of striking the islands another devastating blow.
The latest forecasts (8 p.m. AST) were cautiously optimistic, predicting Jose just might slide by off the eastern end of St. Thomas Thursday morning, delivering only a glancing blow, similar to what happened with Hurricane Luis in September of 1995.
The next twelve hours would tell. If Jose were to veer toward the west during that time, the islands — especially St. Thomas — would be hit.
Early reports of substantial damage on the island of Antigua contributed to the unease in the Virgin Islands, where as night came the rain was falling and the wind was rising, early warnings that the Category 2 hurricane, with winds up to 100 miles an hour, was on its way.
The hurricane shutters were closed and locked, plywood sheets nailed down against window frames, jugs of drinking water set aside, flashlights, lanterns and battery-powered radios readied, and small generators tested.
Local radio stations called in their staffs, ready to broadcast news of Jose during the night. Virgin Islanders turn to radio, not television, in these emergencies.
Hurricane shelters were opening for business.
Streets shiny with rain were empty except for emergency vehicles, because of a 6 p.m. curfew.
Hundreds of small boats, normally a fixture of the marina scene, were tucked away in hurricane harbors where they might survive if Jose hit the islands straight on.
The giant harbor on St. Thomas was deserted. Cruise ships, including the giant Norway, never showed up today as they steamed out of the path of Jose.
The territory’s two airports closed late this afternoon. Even if Jose spared the islands, it probably would be Friday until jet planes from the mainland returned.
The last ferry from St. Thomas to neighboring St. John departed at 5:30 p.m.
WAPA, which delivers electricity, announced it would continue to generate power until or unless Jose threatened the safety of its plants and workers. The utility warned of downed power lines tomorrow.
Ironically, Monday was Hurricane Supplication Day, a holiday for Virgin Islanders to give thanks for having been spared from another season of hurricanes.

Wary Virgin Islanders tried to sleep Wednesday night, hopeful Hurricane Jose would pass them by instead of striking the islands another devastating blow.
The latest forecasts (8 p.m. AST) were cautiously optimistic, predicting Jose just might slide by off the eastern end of St. Thomas Thursday morning, delivering only a glancing blow, similar to what happened with Hurricane Luis in September of 1995.
The next twelve hours would tell. If Jose were to veer toward the west during that time, the islands—especially St. Thomas—would be hit.
Early reports of substantial damage on the island of Antigua contributed to the unease on the Virgin Islands, where as night came the rain was falling and the wind was rising, early warnings that the category two hurricane with winds up to 100 miles an hour was on its way.
The hurricane shutters were closed and locked, plywood sheets nailed down against window frames, jugs of drinking water set aside, flashlights, lanterns and battery power radios readied, and small generators tested.
Local radio stations called in their staffs, ready to broadcast news of Jose during the night. Virgin Islanders turn to radio, not television, in these emergencies.
Hurricane shelters were opening for business.
Streets shiny with rain were empty except for emergency vehicles, because of a 6 p.m. curfew.
Hundreds of small boats, normally a fixture of the marina scene, were tucked away in hurricane harbors where they might survive if Jose hit the islands straight on.
The giant harbor on St. Thomas was deserted. Cruise ships, including the giant Norway, never showed up today as they steamed out of the path of Jose.
The territory’s two airports closed late this afternoon. Even if Jose spared the islands, it probably would be Friday until jet planes from the mainland returned.
The last ferry from St. Thomas to neighboring St. John departed at 5:30 p.m.
WAPA, which delivers electricity, announced it would continue to generate power until or unless Jose threatened the safety of its plants and workers. The utility warned of downed power lines tomorrow.
Ironically, last Monday was Hurricane Supplication Day, a holiday for Virgin Islanders to give thanks for having been spared from another season of hurricanes.

Wary Virgin Islanders tried to sleep Wednesday night, hopeful Hurricane Jose would pass them by instead of striking the islands another devastating blow.
The latest forecasts (8 p.m. AST) were cautiously optimistic, predicting Jose just might slide by off the eastern end of St. Thomas Thursday morning, delivering only a glancing blow, similar to what happened with Hurricane Luis in September of 1995.
The next twelve hours would tell. If Jose were to veer toward the west during that time, the islands—especially St. Thomas—would be hit.
Early reports of substantial damage on the island of Antigua contributed to the unease on the Virgin Islands, where as night came the rain was falling and the wind was rising, early warnings that the category two hurricane with winds up to 100 miles an hour was on its way.
The hurricane shutters were closed and locked, plywood sheets nailed down against window frames, jugs of drinking water set aside, flashlights, lanterns and battery power radios readied, and small generators tested.
Local radio stations called in their staffs, ready to broadcast news of Jose during the night. Virgin Islanders turn to radio, not television, in these emergencies.
Hurricane shelters were opening for business.
Streets shiny with rain were empty except for emergency vehicles, because of a 6 p.m. curfew.
Hundreds of small boats, normally a fixture of the marina scene, were tucked away in hurricane harbors where they might survive if Jose hit the islands straight on.
The giant harbor on St. Thomas was deserted. Cruise ships, including the giant Norway, never showed up today as they steamed out of the path of Jose.
The territory’s two airports closed late this afternoon. Even if Jose spared the islands, it probably would be Friday until jet planes from the mainland returned.
The last ferry from St. Thomas to neighboring St. John departed at 5:30 p.m.
WAPA, which delivers electricity, announced it would continue to generate power until or unless Jose threatened the safety of its plants and workers. The utility warned of downed power lines tomorrow.
Ironically, last Monday was Hurricane Supplication Day, a holiday for Virgin Islanders to give thanks for having been spared from another season of hurricanes.

Here is a list of the shelters available in the St. Thomas-St. John District during the course of Hurricane Jose.
The shelters will open at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and will remain open throughout the storm, according to a release from the St. Thomas – St. John Chapter of the American Red Cross.
St. Thomas
Blue Water Bible College in Fortuna.
Nisky Moravian Church in Sub Base.
Charlotte Amalie High School.
Seventh Day Adventist School in Tutu.
St John
Emmaus Moravian Church.
Bethany Moravian Church.
St. John Methodist Church.