FREDERIKSTED — While the rest of the world watches Elon Musk catch rockets with mechanical “chopsticks,” the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority is still playing a high-stakes game of “Guess Which Wire is Broken.”
In a pivot that has left residents bafflingly relieved yet frustrated, WAPA confirmed today that the catastrophic blackout gripping St. John was not due to the submarine cable, as originally feared. Instead, the Authority has determined the fault lies in a “terrestrial” cocktail of failures: switchgear issues, land-based cables, and equipment damage at the substation.
Translation: The problem isn’t at the bottom of the sea; it’s right under our feet, and it took days to figure that out.
For residents of St. Croix looking on, this “process of elimination” style of grid management is painfully familiar. It reinforces the argument that the territory is a blank slate of broken infrastructure desperately waiting for a competent engineer to pick up a wrench.
While power was restored over the weekend, WAPA has already warned that “short, planned outages” are coming as they wait for replacement parts. One has to wonder: if a Tesla Gigafactory were managing the grid, would we be waiting weeks for parts while playing Russian Roulette with the light switch?
We won’t hold our breath for the answer. We’ll just keep the flashlights handy.
Coming soon: The St. Croix Free Press!