Explosion at WAPA

[Anthony]

From St. John just now:

"Explosion at WAPA plant, power off both islands since 8 AM, looking like 8-9 hours until going"

Wow -

The Source has a story:

http://www.onepaper.com/stthomasvi/?v=d ... 1223612464

Residents of St. Thomas and St. John lost power Tuesday morning when a boiler tube at the Water and Power Authority's St. Thomas plant blew, causing a small fire in the switch yard.

Hugo Hodge, WAPA's executive director, said the plant shut itself off to protect itself. Hodge said as of noon workers were still trying to get one of these units fired up.

"You need at least one to power the inside of the plant before you can start firing the rest of the units," he said.

Hodge expected power to be restored within the next couple of hours.

Meanwhile, AT&T cellular customers on St. Thomas lost service in some areas for about an hour.

Dr. LaVerne Terry, commissioner of education, said public schools on both islands were closed at 11 a.m. because of the power outage.

Terry said regular bus transportation was available to students for the morning dismissal.

Schools in the St. Thomas/St. John district are expected to return to normal operating hours tomorrow.

[mbw1024]

geez what a mess! hope everyone is ok down there.

[Pia]

The "rumor" (and God I hope only a rumor) in Coral Bay is that it might be a couple of days but we all know how rumors start - this one from a friend who is in STT right now and just heard it over there.

Thanksgiving this year might be.... i n t e r e s t i n g

Pia

[Marcia (Mrs. Pete)]

The "rumor" (and God I hope only a rumor) in Coral Bay is that it might be a couple of days but we all know how rumors start - this one from a friend who is in STT right now and just heard it over there.

Thanksgiving this year might be.... i n t e r e s t i n g

Pia

I was just thinking about what a mess it would be if this happened on Thanksgiving day...let's hope it gets resolved long before that.

[bayer40601]

Murf on the Serendipity webcam says: "I said it last year and I'll say it again, 'slow cooking Thanksgiving Turkeys in the boiler tube is NOT a good idea..."

[Gromit]

There's always a campfire!!

[Diana2]

Just wondered if anyone had heard any news about the blackout.

[Pia]

Still dark and the rumor is still anywhere from 1 more hour to 48 hours until we are back on - only time will tell....thank goodness for our generator (I am checking the forum every few hours )

Pia

[mbw1024]

does Ruth have a generator? maybe she should drive over to your pad!

[Exit Zero]

The North side of St T is pitch dark -- a few generators high up and Thankfully my neighbor has turned his off. Ran mine earlier for water and frig but the serene quiet with my oil lanterns is wonderful.
No clue when the WAPA will be back?

[Schnell]

13 hrs and counting....no generator at frenchmans cove. Any new rumors on power restoration ETA?

[Eric in NJ]

13 hrs and counting....no generator at frenchmans cove. Any new rumors on power restoration ETA?

Ther St John spice Cam is back up so I guess power is back.

[Schnell]

Stt still out. Any new morning rumors out there as to when full resoration will be complete?

[hugo]

Our section of St. john was on from 11-3 last night, and came back at 7 this morning. I can not find out anything reliable from the radio (some AM stations seem to be off the air) but my guess is we'll have rotating outages for a while. Fortunately, most of us have propane stoves for just this reason, so those turkeys WILL be cooked! This has broken a pretty long-term record for non-storm outages, but WAPA has actually been doing an heroic job functioning with 30-year-old equipment.

[mrscaptainjay]

We got power back at midnight last night and it was still on when we got up this morning. But some people that live down the road from us and in Mahogany are still without. So it's just hit and miss who has it restored and who doesn't.