The US Virgin Islands are struggling to recover from the storms, too
Ad Feedback
Video Ad Feedback
Hurricane Maria
Austin Fields says that the rain has stopped and that he has seen law enforcement vehicles on the road after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Austin Fields/CNN iReport
Now playing
01:43
US Virgin Islands struggle to recover
SAN ISIDRO, PUERTO RICO - OCTOBER 15: Uncollected debris stand near damaged homes in an area without electricity on October 15, 2017 in San Isidro, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is suffering shortages of food and water in many areas and only 15 percent of grid electricity has been restored. Puerto Rico experienced widespread damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grid as well as agriculture after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, swept through. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Mario Tama/Getty Images South America/Getty Images
Now playing
02:46
PR Gov.: We're treated like second-class citizens
CNN/Madeleine Stix
Now playing
03:53
This is Puerto Rico's 'Maria Generation'
Water drains from the Guajataca Dam in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. Puerto Rican officials rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of people downstream of the failing dam and the massive scale of the disaster wrought by Hurricane Maria started to become clear. (AP Photo)
AP
Now playing
01:04
The drive that shows how badly Puerto Rico was hit
#Maria now a very dangerous Cat 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 130 MPH and an open eye. Approaching #Dominica. 1-hr #GOES16 meso vis.
NASA_SPoRT/Twitter
Now playing
01:28
Hurricane Maria leaves trail of devastation
CNN/Madeleine Stix
Now playing
02:08
Study: Hurricane Maria killed nearly 3,000
Oliver Contreras/Pool/Getty Images
Now playing
02:29
Trump's false claim on Puerto Rico deaths
Jose Andres
CNN
Now playing
00:57
Jose Andres: Trump should be ashamed
trump fema 09112018
POOL
Now playing
02:29
Trump: The best job we did was Puerto Rico
cooper 9.11
CNN
Now playing
04:44
Cooper slams Trump's 'tone-deaf' remarks
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - SEPTEMBER 30: San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz speaks to the media as she arrives at the temporary government center setup at the Roberto Clemente stadium in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on September 30, 2017 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico experienced widespread damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grid as well as agriculture after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, passed through. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Joe Raedle/Getty Images South America/Getty Images
Now playing
01:22
Mayor: If Trump doesn't learn, God bless us all
Stacks upon stacks of bottled water sit near a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, on September 12, 2018.
Julian Quiñones/CNN
Now playing
02:42
See untouched water bottles in Puerto Rico
CNN
Now playing
01:58
CNN anchor presses PR governor on death count
puerto rico governor rossello new day
CNN
Now playing
00:42
Puerto Rico Gov.: There will be mass exodus
Water drains from the Guajataca Dam in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. Puerto Rican officials rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of people downstream of the failing dam and the massive scale of the disaster wrought by Hurricane Maria started to become clear. (AP Photo)
AP
Now playing
01:03
Trees, fences fall as Maria hits Puerto Rico
Residents of San Juan, Puerto Rico, deal with damages to their homes on September 20, 2017, as Hurricane Maria batters the island.
Maria slammed into Puerto Rico on Wednesday, cutting power on most of the US territory as terrified residents hunkered down in the face of the island's worst storm in living memory. After leaving a deadly trail of destruction on a string of smaller Caribbean islands, Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico's southeast coast around daybreak, packing winds of around 150mph (240kph).
/ AFP PHOTO / HECTOR RETAMAL (Photo credit should read HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images)
HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images
Now playing
01:44
Hurricane Maria pummels Puerto Rico
Story highlights
The island of St. John has been without power since Hurricane Irma
Only 33% of cellphone service has been restored
CNN
—
Do Re Mi Daycare on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands has been serving students for 20 years.
But last week, Hurricane Maria threatened everything that Naima Poleon’s family had worked for. Poleon, who took over the daycare this year so her mother could retire, ventured out after the storm to find large parts of the roof were gone. Water damage inside was extensive.
“I really didn’t have any words for it,” she said. “It was just shock. Just seeing everything my mom had worked for for 20 years … was gone in 24 hours.”
Like many residents in the US Virgin Islands, Poleon is trying to pick up the pieces of her life left by Hurricanes Maria and Irma. Both hurricanes were Category 5 storms when they hit, and both decimated the islands, within two weeks of each other.
Irma knocked out the electricity for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, while St. Croix was mercifully spared. But two weeks later, just as the the three islands that make up the US territory were recovering, Maria came back with a vengeance and devastated the power grid.
The islands are still reeling. Many residents are without shelter, power or communication. Schools are still closed and debris still litters the street, hindering the transportation of resources and personnel.
The humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico grips the country, but the destruction from the storms was widespread, and the US Virgin Islands are facing their own lengthy recovery.
Many left without shelter
Don Caetano, spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN a big challenge for the recovery effort is simply getting supplies and personnel to places that need them.
“You get the commodities in,” Caetano said, “but you need the people to get the commodities where they need to go.” There’s still debris blocking roadways, he said, complicating the transportation of resources and personnel.
“A lot of people are without roofs or with partial roofs,” said Samuel Topp, spokesman for the US Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp. “This is, of course, one of the priorities.”
FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers are proving residents with blue tarpaulin and other materials as part of Operation Blue Roof, Topp said, so some can live in their homes as a temporary solution.
According to FEMA, as of Thursday there were seven shelters throughout the islands housing 396 residents. That number is steadily declining, Topp said.
The full extent of the damage, Topp said, is “continuing to be assessed,” but he recognizes they’re not out of the woods yet.
“This is still hurricane season,” he added. “Anything could happen and a lot of people are exposed.”
Power, running water slowly returning
Julio Rhymer, executive director for the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA), recognizes that Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, are struggling from being hit by the hurricanes, but he wants “to make sure the Virgin Islands doesn’t get forgotten in the restoration process.”
After Hurricane Irma pummeled St. John and St. Thomas, St. Croix was mercifully left with about 90% power. But two weeks later, Hurricane Maria arrived to change that, decimating the island with the capabilities to support the others.
Hurricane Irma knocked out power for the entire island of St. John, Rhymer said, and the power has still not returned.
It will take an estimated two to three weeks before St. John’s downtown district will have power restored, and the rest of the island could take even longer than that, he said.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Carmelo Mota, a builder, searches for tools in his destroyed home in Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands, on Monday, September 18. Hurricane Irma devastated the US territory and other Caribbean islands in the region, leaving them exposed to new storms brewing in the Atlantic.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Joel Rouse/MOD/ROYAL NAVY/EPA
An aerial photo shows the devastation in Road Town, the capital of Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, on Wednesday, September 13.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Andrew Parsons/Cal Sport Media/Zuma Press
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talks to a resident of Anguilla during a visit on September 13.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
People collect food that was delivered by emergency workers in the Sandy Ground area of Marigot, St. Martin, on Tuesday, September 12.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
CHRISTOPHE ENA/AFP/Getty Images
Buildings are destroyed in St. Martin on September 12.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
CHRISTOPHE ENA/AFP/Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with St. Martin residents during a visit to the island on September 12.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
French soldiers patrol St. Martin on September 12.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
A person works to clean up a street September 12 after Hurricane Irma flooded parts of Havana, Cuba.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
A man makes repairs in Havana on September 12.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
This Marigot church was among the buildings destroyed in the storm.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Ramon Espinosa/AP
Cubans affected by Hurricane Irma line up to collect drinking water in Isabela de Sagua, Cuba, on Monday, September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
VINCENT JANNINK/AFP/Getty Images
Dutch King Willem-Alexander, front right, tours damage in St. Maarten on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Aurelien Morissard/IP3/Getty Images
A palm tree sticks out of a pool on the French side of St. Martin on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Ramon Espinosa/AP
A woman stands next to her water-logged belongings that had been laid out to dry in front of her home in Isabela de Sagua on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Aurelien Morissard/IP3/Getty Images
People line up for supplies in St. Martin on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
The skeleton of a boat drifts in St. Martin's Simpson Bay on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Ramon Espinosa/AP
People salvage material from the remains of a house in Isabela de Sagua on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Joel Rouse/MOD/AP
Members of the British Army provide support on Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Carlos Giusti/AP
A woman carries a dog at an airport checkpoint in St. Martin on September 11.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
People wade through a flooded street as a wave crashes in Havana on Sunday, September 10.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
Two men search through the rubble of their St. Martin restaurant on September 10.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
People make their way through debris in the Cojimar neighborhood of Havana on September 10.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
People board a plane leaving St. Martin on September 10.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
A man wades through a flooded street in Havana on September 10.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
An overview of Havana shows flooded streets on Saturday, September 9.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
A woman surveys flooding in Havana on September 9.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
A boat rests in a cemetery after Irma tore through Marigot, St. Martin.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
Residents return home after Irma passed through Caibarien, Cuba, on September 9.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks in Caibarien on September 9.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images
A man carries a child through a flooded street in Fort-Liberte, Haiti, on Friday, September 8.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks on a St. Martin street covered in debris on September 8.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Carlos Giusti/AP
A damaged home is tilted onto its side on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra on Thursday, September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Tatiana Fernandez/AP
A home is surrounded by debris in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
LIONEL CHAMOISEAU/AFP/Getty Images
Irma damage is seen in St. Martin's Orient Bay on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Tatiana Fernandez/AP
Employees from an electrical company work to clear a fallen tree in Sanchez, Dominican Republic.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty Images
A woman makes her way through debris in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Ian Brown/AP
In this image made from video, damaged houses are seen in St. Thomas on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Anika E. Kentish/AP
The storm left widespread destruction on the island of Barbuda on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Tatiana Fernandez/AP
A flattened home is seen in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Tatiana Fernandez/AP
Nagua residents ride through an area affected by the storm on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images
Trash and debris is washed ashore in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
People walk through damage in Marigot, St. Martin, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
People survey damage in Marigot on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Courtesy David Velez
Bluebeard's Castle, a resort in St. Thomas, was hit hard by Irma. St. Thomas resident David Velez sent this photo to CNN on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Courtesy David Velez
Irma ruined these vehicles in St. Thomas.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Gerben Van Es/Dutch Defense Ministry/Associated Press
Waves smash into St. Martin on Wednesday, September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Garson Kelsick via AP
A man looks at a vehicle turned upside down in the British territory of Anguilla.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Gerben Van Es/Dutch Defense Ministry/Associated Press
An aerial view of St. Martin on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
Damaged cars are seen on a St. Martin beach on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
A boat is washed onto shore in St. Martin.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
Cars are piled up in Marigot on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks past damaged buildings in St. Martin on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
A car is flipped onto its side in Marigot.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
Broken palm trees are scattered on a Marigot beach on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
Irma floods a beach in Marigot on September 6.
Since Maria passed through, St. Thomas has had about 15% of power restored downtown and in some residential districts nearby. On St. Croix and St. Thomas, about 90% of power has returned to critical facilities such as hospitals, airports and shelters – a step Rhymer considers critical to returning the US Virgin Islands to normalcy.
WAPA anticipates having running water restored on all three islands to all 12,000 customers by this weekend.
Many residents have also been left without the means to communicate. According to Don Caetano, a FEMA spokesman, as of Friday, only 33% of cell service has been restored.
Local telecommunication providers have also set up 17 hot spot locations on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John so survivors can contact loved ones to update them on their situation, he said.
Schools on the islands of St. Thomas and St. John are scheduled to reopen on Monday, October 9, and Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas opened to limited commercial flights on Thursday, signaling a gradual return to everyday life on the islands.
WAPA’s priorities are getting power back on for government agencies and then schools. Restoration to these facilities will help with the territory’s “return to normalcy,” Rhymer said.
When asked how long it would take for the US Virgin Islands to regain some semblance of everyday life, Topp said, “You work until the job is done.”
“The determination is here and the ability is here and the assistance of the American people is here,” he said. “There definitely are better days ahead.”
Poleon anticipates reopening the daycare on Monday, using other rooms that were spared the brunt of the damage. Not all the students will be back – many of their parents can’t return to work – so she can accommodate those who will return.
“I have a lot gone,” she told CNN. “But I have a lot left.”