CHRISTIANSTED — Widespread flooding plagued the territory late Friday afternoon as scores of people scrambled to get out of the way of moving sheets — and streams — of water.
The Virgin Islands Free Press was the first media source to alert the territory to the coming danger — circulating a meme from the National Weather Service early Thursday morning of what was coming.
Warning posted to Facebook by the Virgin Islands Free Press early Thursday morning.
Thunderstorms and heavy rains blanketed St. Croix from 4:00 p.m., plunging the big island into a series of Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority island-wide power outages — the first of which lasted more than two hours.
On St. Croix, once WAPA finally restored electricity to some feeders, the lights went out again after just one half hour of restoration at 7:35 p.m. — with no explanation as to why.
Several videos shared online showed river-like flooding in Gallows Bay, St. Croix, and vehicles halfway covered in water in other areas of the island. On the Melvin Evans Highway, vehicles were stalled by water, while on St. Thomas similar scenarios were reported.
One of the elevators at the Windward Passage Hotel in St. Thomas leaked so badly it was recorded by someone and shared online.
DON’T STOP THE CARNIVAL! The heavy rains and thunderstorms also paused carnival activities on St. Thomas.
