Government Officials Update Public After Tropical Storm Ernesto

During Monday’s Government House press briefing, Director of Communications Richard Motta announced that President Joe Biden had issued an emergency disaster declaration for the territory in response to Tropical Storm Ernesto.

This declaration means that federal funding will be available to help minimize the impact of the storm, following a damage assessment by FEMA. Despite numerous public notices, the V.I. Water and Power Authority announced that power has been restored to 98 percent of the territory following Tropical Storm Ernesto’s visit, with close to hurricane-force wind and rain, six days ago.

Don Gregoire, WAPA territorial incident commander, announced that St. Thomas is 96 percent restored, 99 percent of power has been returned to St. Croix, and 97 percent of St. John is reenergized.

A major problem hindering energy recovery was the lack of tree trimming throughout the year. Gregoire mentioned that in previous years, crews or contractors had been hired to cut trees to reduce potential debris, but no funding was allocated for this in this year’s budget. Although there are standard procedures to prepare for a storm, Gregoire said the authority’s financial problems affected preparations.