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The Public Works Department entered its first day of debris hauling from the roadsides of the Virgin Islands to the respective landfills Thursday as the Virgin Islands recovery from Hurricane Earl entered its third full day. Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls said the debris hauling operation focused on areas that included: UVI, Havensight to Bolongo Bay and Subbase to Crown Mountain. “On Friday, we will expand additional resources, equipment and manpower, to assist in completing the clean-up in various neighborhoods. We will tap additional equipment and manpower from roadside crews to lend a hand in the cleanup. Recognizing that we are in the peak of the hurricane season, we will work to make certain that roads and gutters remain cleared in the event of other threatening weather systems or inclement weather,” Smalls said.
V.I. Water and Power Authority Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. reported Thursday that the recovery on St. John is about 95 percent complete. “There remains some pockets of areas that are not yet energized due to downed poles and damaged weather heads,” Hodge said, adding, that the work is progressing to the point where some of the crews now on St. John will be repositioned to St. Thomas to assist in the recovery. About 75% of St. Thomas has been restored. “Like St. John, there are isolated areas of St. Thomas that are without power and we will address those on Friday.” On St. Croix, Hodge said that 90 percent of island has been energized. “We continue to go through the trouble spots and our crews will work until every customer’s electrical service is restored. “
In other recovery news:
VITEMA Director Mark A. Walters said the agency has postponed its damage assessment meeting scheduled for Friday. The joint territorial-federal emergency management agency preliminary damage assessment meeting will be held next week. VITEMA asks that departments and agencies continue to maintain assessment data related to Hurricane Earl for historical information.
LABOR DEPARTMENT: Offices on St. Thomas at lower Kronprindsens Gade has had it electricity restored and Commissioner Albert Bryan, Jr. said normal office operations will resume on Friday morning at 8 a.m.
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