All Executive Branch government offices in the St. Thomas–St. John District will be closed Friday, October 23, because of continuing power interruptions, Government House announced Thursday evening. Essential government personnel must report to work as scheduled to maintain critical public services.
The Office of Governor Albert Bryan Jr. attributed the interruptions to reduced generation capacity at the Randolph Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas. It said the closure was intended to protect students, teachers and government employees while the V.I. Water and Power Authority worked to address the generation shortfall and stabilize electrical service.
All public schools in the district will also be closed Friday. The Department of Education had separately announced the closure of its schools and district offices, citing electrical grid instability and acknowledging that the short notice would require families and employees to adjust their schedules and childcare arrangements.
The government’s announcement followed WAPA’s 5:20 p.m. update that it could not begin the two-hour power rotations planned earlier Thursday. The authority said certain feeders posed a heightened risk of triggering a major districtwide outage and that some customers would remain without electricity until the issue was resolved.
Government House directed residents to monitor WAPA’s official communications for electrical-service updates and announcements from Education and individual agencies about the resumption of normal operations. The release did not specify a reopening time.
