A nighttime shot of WAPA's Richmond power plant.
UPDATE — Restoration Expected to Begin Shortly
WAPA announced that plant personnel “has made significant progress in repairs” and that the utility is “anticipating restoration will begin within the next hour.” Residents have begun reporting that their power has returned, aligning with WAPA’s update.
Original Story: ST. CROIX — With St. Croix entering Sunday night still without power, the V.I. Water and Power Authority said restoration efforts remain underway after multiple pieces of equipment were found damaged during the daylong outage. In an evening interview with the V.I. Consortium, Shanell Petersen, WAPA’s Director of Corporate Communications, said crews are continuing repairs and replacements but do not yet have a definitive restoration timeline.
Ms. Petersen explained that workers initially anticipated having power back around 5:30 p.m., but that projection shifted after crews identified “multiple equipment that was stressed” as a result of the initial fault. “We don’t have an estimated time of restoration,” she said. “They’re still working on repairing [and] replacing the equipment that was stressed from the initial cause of the outage.”
According to Petersen, the outage began with “a fault at the Aggreko units,” which she described as the initial trigger. “That’s all we have right now,” she said, noting that WAPA has not yet determined the specific cause behind the fault itself.
Pressed on how residents should prepare for what could be several more hours without electricity, Petersen urged the community to follow standard safety guidance during major outages. She spoke of the importance of unplugging electronic devices without surge protectors to avoid damage and cautioned against turning appliances back on immediately after service returns.
WAPA’s outage guidance also advises residents to keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to preserve cold air and check on elderly neighbors and those with medical needs.
Petersen said WAPA had been in communication with the Juan F. Luis Hospital and the V.I. Police Department. Earlier in the day, the hospital announced that the outage had disrupted its phone lines and advised the public to call 911 in emergencies. Petersen said WAPA remains in constant coordination with the hospital and law enforcement. “We don’t anticipate that it’s going to be within the next hour,” she said of restoration, while reiterating that crews are still working toward restoring power tonight.
School operations for Monday remain dependent on whether electricity returns overnight. Petersen said she will update the Department of Education once WAPA is able to determine how many additional components require repair or replacement. “Hopefully, that’s the goal,” she said.
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