WAPA progress on STX

"On St. Croix Friday, crews working on Feeder 1A in downtown Christiansted energized from Hospital Street to the VIPD marine base, Hotel on the Cay and Bryan’s Marina. On Feeder 2A, reconstruction of primary circuits continued along Gallows Bay road toward Pearl B. Larsen school, and from Canegata Ballpark toward Recovery Hill. Crews commenced work on Feeder 3A, while on Feeder 4A, residences in Golden Rock and the federal courthouse were energized. On Feeder 5A, crews energized residences and businesses in Estates Ruby, Sunny Acres, Joseph E. James Home for the Elderly and the Department of Finance. Primary circuits were also energized as were customers in Estate Mary’s Fancy.

Traffic flow will be affected on Saturday as restoration work continues. On St. Croix, crews will work along Centerline Road and in downtown Christiansted, on the Northshore Road, Five Corners and Rattan."

facebook.com 11/3

"WAPA restoration work will continue on Monday and traffic flow will be affected in and around the work areas.

On St. Croix, crews will continue work in Hannah’s Rest, Frederiksted town as well as in Christiansted."

facebook.com 11/5

"At Governor Mapp’s Monday night news conference, WAPA Executive Director Julio A. Rhymer, Sr. provided a broad overview of the restoration work underway and that which has already been completed.

o On St. Croix, Rhymer spoke of plans to energize from Hannah’s Rest to Fisher Street and most of Frederiksted town this week. Work is continuing towards completing restoration work in Christiansted. He said areas including Golden Rock and Little Princesse have been energized with crews moving toward Estate Rattan. Other crews are working in an easterly direction from Christiansted toward Gallows Point, Gallows Bay, and the Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School.

Reconstruction and restoration crews continued work Monday re-energizing customers while developing the primary circuits and backbone of the electrical distribution system.

o On St. Croix, more than 95% of Feeder 1A in Christiansted has been restored. Customers were reenergized on Feeders 4A, 5A and 8B including several businesses in Golden Rock and Little Princesse. Work continued in Frederiksted, as well as on Feeders 10A near Five Corners and 2A from Christiansted town toward the Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School.

On Tuesday, traffic flow in both districts will be interrupted as reconstruction and restoration work continues. On St. Croix, motorists should expect traffic interruptions near Five Corners, in Frederiksted around Queen Street and along Queen Mary Highway from west airport road toward the court."

facebook.com 11/6

Friends in Fsted - between police station and freeway have current! Hanna’s rest? Retreat? Always get them confused but yea over der. Making its way to Fsted.

"On St. Croix, customers on Feeder 4A were restored along Five Corners as well as in the Little Princess and La Grande Princess areas, with crews building out primary circuits toward Sion Hill and Rattan. Customers were restored in Estate Ruby and Peppertree Terrace along with the Christiansted Bypass. On Feeder 8B, poles are being framed and readied for primary circuit reconstruction while additional customers were energized in the Hannah’s Rest area. Efforts will continue to repair and reinstall streetlights along the major highways of St. Croix.

On Wednesday, restoration work impacting traffic flow will take place in the following locations: on St. Croix, along Queen Street in Frederiksted, along Queen Mary Highway from west airport road toward the court, and near Five Corners."

facebook.com 11/7

Thank you for the update

"On St. Croix, work continued on circuits along Centerline Road from the courthouse to the Education Complex. Poles were planted near The Home Depot. Additional customers on Strand, Hill and Prince Streets, along Pine Tree Road in Estate Whim were energized. Reconstruction work was completed on Feeders 4A and 5A. Approximately 98% of Gallows Bay has been energized on Feeder 2A, and by Friday, a portion of Feeder 3A, up to Beeston Hill, will be restored. Work on Feeder 1A has been completed."

facebook.com 11/8

I own a condo in Schooners Bay. Power was restored yesterday. This is on feeder 2a.

I heard they dropped poles yesterday to be planted on East end road all the way down cotton valley, not sure if they went farther, but a good sign for us on the east end.

Its so sad to see the out-of-town linemen standing around waiting for transformers, primary wire and other supplies (like black electrical tape). The guys hanging around in Gallows Bay have sat there for hours waiting on a transformer to be scavenged so they can get the area back up.

The stories of a lack of basic supplies to rebuild the grid are totally true.

Its hard to believe that WAPA still hasn't gotten around to ordering new transformers seven weeks after the storm.

Where did the $24 million go that FEMA gave them?

East End Road being worked on yesterday and today. Yesterday they got poles up from Southgate Condos past Cheeseburgers past the entrance of Cheney Bay Resort. It’s about 3/4 mile of progress in a day. About 5 miles to go to get to The Reef.

They have not started removing downed poles or sagging lines yet. The VIYA cables are still down. Poles are laid out to Coakley Bay laying next to broken ones.

Power lines are stretched from Gallows Bay all the way to Altona Lagoon where they are working this morning hanging the power lines back up

Captbill, can you keep me updated, seems you live out that way. I'm off island, but am coming down just before Christmas. We live just above the reef condos, hopefully it'll be lit by then. Thanks.

Chances are we’ll get power at The Reef before anyone off the main road does. We connect directly to the lines and our power runs underground. We had power 36 hours after Irma and I have friends off in Cotton Valley that never got power before Maria hit

I will update the post when / if we get power

Northshore will be dead last as usual and Rust Op Twist will be dead last on the Northshore as usual.

I'm not worried though, setting us up to be completely off grid. (tu)

Northshore will be dead last as usual and Rust Op Twist will be dead last on the Northshore as usual.

I'm not worried though, setting us up to be completely off grid. (tu)

The 11/3 post did mention work on Northshore Road although I suspect they meant Northside Rd instead.

"On St. Croix, portions of Mars Hill, Sion Farm, Gallows Bay and Contentment were energized. Crews also worked along the road past the Buccaneer Hotel toward the east end. Crews continue to work in Frederiksted reconstructing primary lines on Queen and Fisher Streets. "

facebook.com 11/9

Its so sad to see the out-of-town linemen standing around waiting for transformers, primary wire and other supplies (like black electrical tape). The guys hanging around in Gallows Bay have sat there for hours waiting on a transformer to be scavenged so they can get the area back up.

The stories of a lack of basic supplies to rebuild the grid are totally true.

Its hard to believe that WAPA still hasn't gotten around to ordering new transformers seven weeks after the storm.

Where did the $24 million go that FEMA gave them?

I can't believed we tolerate this kind of foolishness.

The morons that run this so called utility should sacked in a heart beat.

These guys that came here to restore should all be given medals for their efforts and the fact they have to deal with our fools!!!

CD

Electrical equipment and supplies needed to be sourced and shipped to the VI. In the best of times without an ocean in between, 7 weeks could be a fast turn around for so many parts. WAPA (or any electric company) doesn't keep a warehouse full of new parts sitting around just in case.

Mainland utilities use and reuse parts, too. I worked for one that had a warehouse full of obsolete parts and pieces - to fix its old equipment.

And let's not forget WAPA is competing for the same equipment with PR, TX, FL and other islands. Given the scale of disaster recovery from this year's hurricanes, WAPA is doing just fine.

Its so sad to see the out-of-town linemen standing around waiting for transformers, primary wire and other supplies (like black electrical tape). The guys hanging around in Gallows Bay have sat there for hours waiting on a transformer to be scavenged so they can get the area back up.

The stories of a lack of basic supplies to rebuild the grid are totally true.

Its hard to believe that WAPA still hasn't gotten around to ordering new transformers seven weeks after the storm.

Where did the $24 million go that FEMA gave them?

I can't believed we tolerate this kind of foolishness.

The morons that run this so called utility should sacked in a heart beat.

These guys that came here to restore should all be given medals for their efforts and the fact they have to deal with our fools!!!

CD

Electrical equipment and supplies needed to be sourced and shipped to the VI. In the best of times without an ocean in between, 7 weeks could be a fast turn around for so many parts. WAPA (or any electric company) doesn't keep a warehouse full of new parts sitting around just in case.

Mainland utilities use and reuse parts, too. I worked for one that had a warehouse full of obsolete parts and pieces - to fix its old equipment.

And let's not forget WAPA is competing for the same equipment with PR, TX, FL and other islands. Given the scale of disaster recovery from this year's hurricanes, WAPA is doing just fine.

I call BS on this. The procurement people at WAPA know exactly where to source transformers and other critical material from mainland manufacturers and distributors. Even from the west coast, overland transport is only 5 days to Miami and 5 days to the VI over the ocean. If they started ordering on week one, material would have been here on week four at the latest.

Our bankrupt government and public utility has dropped the ball yet again. Imagine the money wasted on wages for off island linemen to stand around twiddling their thumbs waiting for someone to scavenge a transformer. Yesterday in Gallows Bay, I saw 10 linemen and three bucket trucks sit idle for FOUR HOURS waiting for a transformer to be found.

Just sayin....

 

Linemen at Chris Hanley's office on East End Rd. Headed East !!!

Friday 10 November

I went into town along East End Road (Feeder 2). The poles have been replaced from Miss Bea Road all the way to 7 Flaggs Road. I do expect that progress to be slowed though given there really were not many poles broken up to about Coakley Bay and around to Ziggy's.

The vast majority of the poles from Cotton Valley around past the Yacht Club are down and broken and will need replacement.

The power lines were being stung up at the 90 degree corner just south of Cheeseburgers.

I don't think WAPA would be first in line for the bits and pieces. TX and FL first - more people affected, different state regulations, better bill paying history, better vendor relationships.

I hope this doesn't mean WAPA is putting up second rate poles again.

Electrical equipment and supplies needed to be sourced and shipped to the VI. In the best of times without an ocean in between, 7 weeks could be a fast turn around for so many parts. WAPA (or any electric company) doesn't keep a warehouse full of new parts sitting around just in case.

Mainland utilities use and reuse parts, too. I worked for one that had a warehouse full of obsolete parts and pieces - to fix its old equipment.

And let's not forget WAPA is competing for the same equipment with PR, TX, FL and other islands. Given the scale of disaster recovery from this year's hurricanes, WAPA is doing just fine.

I call BS on this. The procurement people at WAPA know exactly where to source transformers and other critical material from mainland manufacturers and distributors. Even from the west coast, overland transport is only 5 days to Miami and 5 days to the VI over the ocean. If they started ordering on week one, material would have been here on week four at the latest.

Our bankrupt government and public utility has dropped the ball yet again. Imagine the money wasted on wages for off island linemen to stand around twiddling their thumbs waiting for someone to scavenge a transformer. Yesterday in Gallows Bay, I saw 10 linemen and three bucket trucks sit idle for FOUR HOURS waiting for a transformer to be found.

Just sayin....

 

Progress:@)

"WAPA’s crews continue a steady and progressive reconstruction and restoration effort each day. With supplies to include poles, transformers, wire and other hardware arriving weekly, the Authority remains committed to its goal of restoring 90% of all areas across the Virgin Islands by Christmas 2017. Another 200 off-island linemen are expected to arrive over the next few days to augment the restoration effort.

On St. Croix Friday, some customers in Estate Whim were energized and efforts continue to restore major sections of Frederiksted town this weekend and the Louis E. Brown, Sr. Villas and portions of Feeder 9B early next week. Customers on Feeder 6B including Foodtown, Princess Health Center, Northshore Health Center, the St. Croix Avis and One Love Service Station were restored while Little Princesse and Sion Farm are being readied for restoration of service as well as Estates Barrenspot, Strawberry and Bonne Esperance on Feeder 5A. Crews will continue restoration near Gallows Bay on Saturday and over the next few days, additional customers on Orange Grove Road to Clifton Hill and from Estate Richmond to Beeston Hill will be restored"

facebook.com 11/10

Looks like the WAPA boil water advisory for STX was lifted quietly on 11/8.

I live in town. Seems everyone around me has power. Just got back from 2 weeks stateside and had hoped to have Power when we got back. Sadly I was disappointed. Sigh

I live in town. Seems everyone around me has power. Just got back from 2 weeks stateside and had hoped to have Power when we got back. Sadly I was disappointed. Sigh

F'sted?