Power restoration efforts in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in the wake of Tropical Storm Ernesto are nearing completion, the Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority and LUMA, which operates and manages the electric power transmission and distribution system in Puerto Rico, said recently.
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority on Aug. 18 reported that restoration efforts across the Territory were nearing completion, with 97.3% of customers having power.
“While we are making significant progress, we are currently addressing a loss of generation capacity at the Randolph Harley Power Plant, which is impacting some feeders in the St. Thomas/St. John district. Our crews are working on the remaining isolated outages and completing final repairs, understanding the challenges our customers have faced over the past five days,” it said.
As of Aug. 18, on St. Croix, 99% of power has been restored, with 354 customers still facing outages in isolated areas. St. Thomas has seen 96% of customers regain service, with 1,003 yet to be restored. St. John is 99% restored, with 19 customers awaiting power. The teams have been able to restore 22359 customers on St. Thomas, 23763 on St. Croix, and 3073 on St. John, totaling 49,195 customers.
Line crews have successfully restored power to priority areas across all islands, including schools and public services, thanks to the invaluable support of the Department of Public Works, VI Police Department, and local utility contractors.
LUMA on Aug. 18 said it had restored service to over 675,000 customers, had restored service to more than 90% of customers in each region, and continued round-the-clock efforts to achieve 90% restoration for the 6 municipalities with the largest remaining damage impacts from Tropical Storm Ernesto
“As of 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, more than 96% of all customers, or 1.4 million, have power and LUMA crews continue working day and night to restore service to 58,000 customers that remain without power, including the hardest hit areas of Caguas, Carolina, and Mayagüez service regions,” it said.
