WASHINGTON — St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands will be ground zero for the federal emergency response to Hurricane Irma after the storm “decimated” the island and battered nearby St. John, leaving them virtually without power and with less than one week’s supply of fresh water, according to the chief of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The storm’s 150-mph winds sheared the tops of every tree 10 feet off the ground, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the Corps’ commander said Thursday after returning from a tour of the islands in the Caribbean. Irma also slammed nearby St. John, known for its fabled pristine beaches, while St. Croix, the third of the U.S. Virgin Islands, fared far better, he said. The islands’ population is about 100,000.
“My gut told me last night when I flew back in from the Virgin Islands, ‘Go all in on Thomas,’” Semonite said from the Corps’ Washington command center. “Don’t wait to be asked.”
Power grid destroyed
On St. Thomas, a popular destination for cruise ships and tourists, Irma destroyed 90% of the island’s power lines and 80% of its transformers, Semonite said. Residents have five days’ worth of drinkable water. The power plant on St. Thomas also feeds St. John.
The once-verdant islands have been stripped bare of foliage.
“I was devastated by what it looked like down there for the poor people of the U.S. Virgin Islands,” Semonite said. “There were boats that were all over the place, houses that were torn down.”
The Corps’ engineers are overseeing a swarm of contractors who will be charged with restoring power, patching roofs and clearing the debris strewn on Irma’s path through the Virgin Islands and Florida.
To start, Marines have been deployed to the Virgin Islands to clear roads. Trees and power lines have choked transportation routes. Ports have been clogged with shipwrecks.
Semonite dispatched a mobile command center to St. Thomas and 31 generators to begin restoring power to critical infrastructure, such as police stations and the plant that desalinates sea water. Bottled water for drinking is abundant, he said, but there is just a five-day supply of clean water for bathing patients in hospitals and other needs.
“I’m not waiting five days for somebody to call me and say, ‘I’m out of water,’” Semonite said.
The Corps is also on the clock to get roofs over the heads of storm victims. Leaks can be tolerated for no more than a week before mold begins to set in, he said. The Corps will oversee contractors who will essentially shrink wrap damaged roofs with durable, blue plastic. About 29,000 houses will be needed in hard-hit areas of Florida, with another 9,000 homes need them in the Virgin Islands.
“Probably the main effort of the federal response when it comes to the ability to be able to get life back to normal is going to be in the Virgin Islands,” Semonite said.
On the Florida Keys, which took the first hit on the mainland from Irma, the Corps is seeking to reopen the port at Key West so that supplies can be shipped in, and debris ferried away, Semonite said.
Life in Florida will return to normal far faster than it will for residents of St. Thomas and St. John, he predicted.
“The average citizen on those two islands is going to be months without power,” Semonite said.
More: U.S. Virgin Islands getting aid, but still reeling from Irma
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Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-health-funding-pallister-1.4023461?cmp=rss
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