Wapa

WAPA Says Apparent Vandalism Caused Major St. John Outage

ST. JOHN — The V.I. Water and Power Authority said an extended outage that disrupted electrical service on St. John Saturday night was traced to what appears to be intentional damage to a transmission line, prompting a police report and an ongoing investigation into possible vandalism. According to WAPA, the outage began at approximately 10:00 p.m. on March 14, and during a preliminary inspection of the affected transmission line, personnel found distinctive cuts to the infrastructure that appeared deliberate rather than the result of equipment failure. The authority said it immediately contacted the V.I. Police Department and filed a formal police report. WAPA said it is cooperating fully as VIPD investigates the incident, while also conducting an internal review to determine whether additional protective measures may be necessary to better safeguard infrastructure serving the St. John community. “This type of action is extremely dangerous,” said Karl Knight, chief executive office...