CHRISTIANSTED — Hundreds of households and thousands of people on St. Croix lost electricity for hours after a generator shut down early this afternoon, the Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority said.
“As of approximately 12:30 p.m., there is a major electrical service interruption affecting all customers in the St. Croix district following the loss of generation capacity at the Estate Richmond Power Plant due to loss of generation unit 20,” WAPA said. “Plant personnel are actively working to restore service to all feeders as quickly and safely as possible. Thank you for your patience.”
WAPA’s Interim CEO Ashley Bryan cut an apology message on Facebook for the St. Thomas-St. John district about one hour before a partial restoration was salvaged for St. Croix, but did not specifically mention the Big Island in her message.
“Unit 20 has been brought back online,” WAPA said in a 3:15 p.m. alert on Facebook. “The following feeders have been restored: 5A, 1B, and 8B. WAPA Plant Personnel continue to actively work safely to restore service to all customers. Please note some water customers may also be experiencing little to no water pressure due to the current electrical outage.”
Meanwhile, WAPA customer Tnishaamanda Thomas on St. Croix said the power was still out on Feeder 2A.
“To all the newcomers…..welcome to St Croix aka paradise island, where WAPA takes the power every other day for 2 to 4 hours lol lord have mercy on us!!!
,” Nancy Dulce Corazon said on Facebook.
“This is absolutely ridiculous!!” Tay Amor said. “Got newborn twins at home!!! SMH 3:30?! “
“I hot ehno!” Jazmarie Joseph said.
“We pay outrageous utilities bills, goes out when it wants, nasty water and not discount/credit on our bill,” Sameer Ahamad said. “Island life folks.”
“Ayo run out of fuel stop the bs,” Rico Suave said.
“5 .5 hours almost it’s hot as hell people,” Connie Parker Motes said.
“Its 3:11 nothing yet,” Tnishaamanda Thomas added.
“Is the 2 hrs from the initial outage or from the 1:30 mark?” Melanie Eva Canton Suarez asked.
“Estimated time of restoration is 3:30 p.m.” WAPA replied to Melanie Eva Canton Suarez.
“that’s longer than the 2 hours originally stated….” Kya Rain replied to WAPA.
“‘Jah-Lance Amoneal replied to WAPA.