The US Virgin Islands are struggling to recover from the storms, too
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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.
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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.
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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.
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UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talks to a resident of Anguilla during a visit on September 13.
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People collect food that was delivered by emergency workers in the Sandy Ground area of Marigot, St. Martin, on Tuesday, September 12.
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Buildings are destroyed in St. Martin on September 12.
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French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with St. Martin residents during a visit to the island on September 12.
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French soldiers patrol St. Martin on September 12.
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A person works to clean up a street September 12 after Hurricane Irma flooded parts of Havana, Cuba.
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A man makes repairs in Havana on September 12.
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This Marigot church was among the buildings destroyed in the storm.
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Cubans affected by Hurricane Irma line up to collect drinking water in Isabela de Sagua, Cuba, on Monday, September 11.
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Dutch King Willem-Alexander, front right, tours damage in St. Maarten on September 11.
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A palm tree sticks out of a pool on the French side of St. Martin on September 11.
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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.
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People line up for supplies in St. Martin on September 11.
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The skeleton of a boat drifts in St. Martin's Simpson Bay on September 11.
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People salvage material from the remains of a house in Isabela de Sagua on September 11.
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Members of the British Army provide support on Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands.
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A woman carries a dog at an airport checkpoint in St. Martin on September 11.
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People wade through a flooded street as a wave crashes in Havana on Sunday, September 10.
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Two men search through the rubble of their St. Martin restaurant on September 10.
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People make their way through debris in the Cojimar neighborhood of Havana on September 10.
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MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
People board a plane leaving St. Martin on September 10.
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A man wades through a flooded street in Havana on September 10.
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An overview of Havana shows flooded streets on Saturday, September 9.
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A woman surveys flooding in Havana on September 9.
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A boat rests in a cemetery after Irma tore through Marigot, St. Martin.
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Residents return home after Irma passed through Caibarien, Cuba, on September 9.
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A man walks in Caibarien on September 9.
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A man carries a child through a flooded street in Fort-Liberte, Haiti, on Friday, September 8.
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A man walks on a St. Martin street covered in debris on September 8.
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A damaged home is tilted onto its side on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra on Thursday, September 7.
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A home is surrounded by debris in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7.
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LIONEL CHAMOISEAU/AFP/Getty Images
Irma damage is seen in St. Martin's Orient Bay on September 7.
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Employees from an electrical company work to clear a fallen tree in Sanchez, Dominican Republic.
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A woman makes her way through debris in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 7.
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Ian Brown/AP
In this image made from video, damaged houses are seen in St. Thomas on September 7.
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The storm left widespread destruction on the island of Barbuda on September 7.
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A flattened home is seen in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7.
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Nagua residents ride through an area affected by the storm on September 7.
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Trash and debris is washed ashore in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on September 7.
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Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
People walk through damage in Marigot, St. Martin, on September 7.
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Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
People survey damage in Marigot on September 7.
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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.
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Gerben Van Es/Dutch Defense Ministry/Associated Press
An aerial view of St. Martin on September 6.
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Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty Images
Damaged cars are seen on a St. Martin beach on September 6.
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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.
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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
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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.”
