The Carnival Glory cruises off the coast of Florida. (Photo by Andy Newman/Carnival Cruise Lines)
ST. CROIX -- Governor Kenneth Mapp during his Tuesday evening press briefing at Government House, announced a change in curfew hours for both the St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John districts, which Mr. Mapp said was needed so that residents could conduct important business. The change comes just one day after the governor announced a "permanent", 4:00 p.m. to 12 noon curfew for St. Croix, which he suggested at his Monday press briefing would have held until the island's roads were properly cleared.
The curfew for St. Croix is now 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m., which means St. Croix residents now have between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. to conduct their business. The curfew in the St. Thomas-St. John District is now 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., giving residents there between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. to conduct their business.
Mr. Mapp also announced that the mercy cruise ship will arrive on St. Croix on Friday, and will accommodate 1,000 passengers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, with another 1,000 to be picked up in Puerto Rico. Of the 1,000 USVI passengers, 750 will be from St. Croix, 200 from St. John, and 50 from St. Thomas. Of the 750 St. Croix passengers, 400 fall under what the governor called an "urgent category," and all 400 of them have already been registered. This leaves 350 open seats on the cruise ship as of Tuesday night for persons looking to leave the territory from St. Croix. On St. John, there were 200 seats as of Tuesday night. There were 50 seats on St. Thomas, but those have already been taken, according to the governor.
From St. Croix, the cruise ship head to St. Thomas and leaves that the island on Saturday. Mercy mission passengers will be dropped off in Fort Lauderdale, Florida two days after leaving St. Thomas.
Mr. Mapp gave a new number that interested persons should call to be listed, which is 772-713-6801 (the governor on Tuesday gave the wrong area code, so we've updated this post to reflect the correct information on Sept. 28, 2017). Interested individuals are to call this number between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. only to be listed. For registration, you must visit one of the following visitor centers on Wednesday:
- St. Croix: Cotton Valley Fire Station, VI Cardiac Center at the Juan F. Luis Hospital, and the Ann E. Abramson Pier Center in Frederiksted.
- St. John: Powell Park.
Interested parties must be present at the visitor centers from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Additionally, only 100 hundred persons will be registered at each center.
The governor stressed that persons leaving the territory on mercy missions should ascertain that they have accommodations at their destination. Mr. Mapp said at least three persons who left the territory on mercy flights made contact with the government of the Virgin Islands seeking help, after they were not welcomed at the homes they left the territory for.
"You can't show up to people's doorsteps with a bundle and believe that people are going to welcome you with open arms," the governor said, adding, "We don't have the resources in the government to bail out people." Mr. Mapp said the government was able to contact shelters in the respective U.S. jurisdictions where at least two of those persons were, and established that they had come from a disaster area, which cleared the way for the shelters to provide clothing and food for a few days. "You've got a lot of work to do when taking mercy missions," the governor said.
Here are some other important updates from today's press briefing:
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