The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) and its propane conversion contractor, VITOL, have postponed Sunday’s planned movement of two of the 10 storage tanks that will be put in service on St. Thomas.
The decision was made Saturday by WAPA’s Executive Director Hugo Hodge as a result of road conditions that arose from heavy rainfall in the area on Friday night.
“With almost eight inches of rain recorded from midnight Friday to the early morning hours of Saturday, we experienced major soil saturation and low-level flooding all along the movement route from the Crown Bay homeport dock in Subbase to the propane facility overlooking the Krum Bay power plant,” Hodge said. “As such, we will postpone the movement of the two tanks, which arrived as scheduled early Saturday morning from St. Croix, to allow time to assess the ground conditions, especially along the roads that were modified and in some cases, created, to facilitate the movement of these tanks.”
Hodge said WAPA and VITOL have decided to postpone the movement until Monday, if weather conditions are favorable, to allow time for the contractor, its staff and consultants to closely analyze the conditions of the roadway along the movement route.
“These tanks are extremely heavy and should the road condition — especially the areas that were created along the route — not be in ideal shape, we could run into a major issue,” Hodge said.
A public announcement is expected from WAPA on Sunday once a final decision is made about proceeding with the movement on Monday.
Hodge said that the one-day delay in the movement of the first two storage tanks will not adversely impact the Feb. 26 timeline all tanks are expected on St. Thomas.
Tags: hugo hodge wapa, wapa
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