Pence Arrives In USVI Friday; St. Croix Airport Reopens; Curfews Eased Again

ST. CROIX — Vice President Mike Pence and his wife will land on St. Croix at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport tomorrow, and will receive an aerial tour of the island to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, and later speak with victims of the storm. Mr. Pence, along with Governor Kenneth Mapp and Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett (Ms. Plaskett is traveling with the vice president tomorrow), will meet the press at the airport’s Army Flight Operation Hangar Friday morning. The Consortium was set to cover the event and we will still attempt to do so, but was told that the White House had chosen two media entities to be the only press at the event. It was not clear who gave the recommendations, and how the two unrevealed media houses were chosen.

Government House attempted to include The Consortium as part of the invited media, but the Secret Service, we were told, would not allow any media at the event other than the chosen two. The action is curious and surprising; The Consortium has covered Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Mr. Mapp’s daily press briefings, and other items related to the disasters relentlessly, and has brought live coverage of many of the governor’s press briefings. To not be included with invited press to Mr. Pence’s visit is rather anomalous.

In other recovery-related news, the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport opened for commercial flights today, with Delta Airlines and Jetblue both leaving with passengers to U.S. terminals. Customs and TSA are also functional at the airport, according to Department of Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty. Others carriers with flights include American Airlines, Seaborne Airlines and Cape Air.

The governor announced new curfew hours that will remain in effect on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On St. Croix, the new curfew hours are 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., meaning St. Croix residents have between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. to conduct business. In the St. Thomas-St. John District, the new curfew hours are 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Below, find the other important updates from Mr. Mapp’s Thursday press briefing:

1. Mr. Mapp has started the process of communicating directly with members of Congress as his administration looks to lobby Washington for support of the territory’s goal of receiving funding to rebuild its infrastructure, schools and hospitals that were damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The governor said so far he has written two letters and held one conference call. Mr. Mapp is seeking hundreds of millions from Congress in disaster assistance dollars.
2. The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams is in the territory and has received an aerial view of Maria’s damage to St. Croix. He promised the federal government’s full support, and urged patience, stating that the damage he saw was unprecedented.
3. The government, effective immediately, will begin collecting hurricane debris from properties territory-wide. There are four categories of debris that will be picked up by government-contracted waste haulers: 1) Whites, which include appliances (stoves, refrigerators, microwaves, etc), 2) Electronics, which include TVs, computers, radios, home theater systems and other related items; 3) Vegetation, which consists of tree limbs, plants, broken branches and other such debris; and 4) Roofing, which includes galvanize, galvalum, beams and other roofing materials. Household waste should not be piled along with the hurricane-related debris. If they are, the debris will not be collected by the waste haulers, Mr. Mapp said.
4. Two construction companies in St. John are seeking 300 workers, according to the Department of Labor (D.O.L.) as the rebuilding of the territory starts to take form. On St. Croix, between 5 and 6 construction companies are seeking roughly 55 workers, D.O.L. Commissioner Catherine Hendry told The Consortium following the press briefing. “There’s going to be a lot more work than we have workers,” Mr. Mapp said.
5. D.O.L. continues to process unemployment payments, with 86 checks being processed today. The department has created a call-in line for those seeking to file for unemployment or those already on unemployment seeking information on the status of their checks. The number to call is 340-713-3410.
6. So far, FEMA has registed 14,700 Virgin Islanders for disaster assistance.