Lots of checking and looking around on the island Monday after Tropical Storm Irene dumped cisterns-full of water on the island. (About four inches of rain were reported on St. Thomas, six inches on St. John.) Followed by lots of cleaning up of palm branches and other minor debris.
Tyler Anderson of Catered To (managers of Blue Tang ) had his folks out inspecting his several dozen villas. By and large, no damage.
The view from Great Expectations Tuesday morning.
Kristin Demong, owner of Great Expectations, one of our advertisers, e-mailed to say, "Amazingly, our webcam stayed on the entire storm (until WAPA turned off power for 30 minutes Monday morning! And, then it was up again). Only damage was one broken banana plant but I will take that in trade for a full cistern!)."
The St. Thomas airport is open.
The St. John Source reported that despite many boat owners not moving to safer harbors, only one sailboat was sunk – in Coral Bay. The Source also quoted the superintendent of the Virgin Islands National Park saying his people removed a large tree that fell across the North Shore Road at Maho Bay and pushed boulders off the road between Hawksnest Bay and Peace Hill. Read the full story.
The Department of Natural Resources advised the public in a statement, "To refrain from swimming and bathing in coastal waters throughout the territory until it completes beach water quality testing."
The weather forecast for today is mostly cloudy wkith a high of 87 degrees, 0% chance of rain.
Not all of the East Coast has power as of yet. There are many areas that are unreachable due to bridges and roadways that have washed away. Looks like St. John faired pretty well, which is great news!