The islands lay directly in the path of the storm, the eye passing over
St. John and then St. Thomas early Monday afternoon. Throughout Bertha's
passage the familiar voices of local radio station Lucky 13/WSTA 1340AM
and its callers projected an alert, yet calm atmosphere. One might almost
say "routine" . . . and the music favored by Athniel "Addie" Ottley seemed
surreally appropriate: where else in the world can one watch debris flying
past the window, accompanied by the musical theme from "A Summer Place"?
Visitors to the USVI web site may recall the ongoing reconstruction efforts from last September's Hurricane Marilyn. By comparison, Bertha (packing 80 MPH winds) was a smaller storm. In the words of Lee Carle, veteran news reporter for WSTA Radio AM-1340: "Bertha was a serious storm, but not anywhere near the destructive power of Marilyn. Bertha actually contributed to the damage of the previous storm because many homes and buildings being reconstructed had tarps covering their roofs. These tarps were easily carried away or shredded by Bertha's winds." Lee returned to his home this evening to face standing water, ankle-deep. Tired but in good spirits he mused, "I'm amazed that the phone works."
Telephone service, which had gone out completely in most areas during
Marilyn, held up extremely well for Bertha. Most notably, the link
carrying long distance calls and Internet stayed up, enabling concerned
family and friends abroad to keep in touch. The Virgin Islands Water and
Power Authority (WAPA) turned off all power by 8am Monday morning for
safety reasons. Some power (mostly in St. Croix) has been restored.
Pending inspection of lines and correction of problems, some other areas
may have power as early as Wednesday morning. Preliminary observations
suggest that the power poles and lines, many of them replanted firmly
after Marilyn, have also held up well.
Lee reports that "in addition to the loss of tarps, some homes, schools and government buildings under reconstruction were damaged. When the sun rises there is much work to be done. The Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency VITEMA has declared that the islands have survived the onslaught of Hurricane Bertha, and we will rebuild the infrastructure once again." To date, no deaths or major injuries have been attributed to the storm.
At the moment details on marine losses are few. It is known that at least half a dozen vessels have gone down or have run aground, two in St. Thomas Harbor. No deaths or injury to crews are known. Bertha brought a 4 foot storm tide and 10-15 foot waves to the islands.
The general mood for the last couple of days was somber as we made final
preparations. Virgin Islanders are still a bit unsettled by the recent
change in weather patterns that has placed the islands in the path of
storms Hugo, Marilyn and now Bertha. Prior to Hugo in 1989, the V.I. had
not been visited by a major hurricane since 1924. Sensing this change in
the winds, island residents and utilities are responding to the challenge
to build stronger and better homes and infrastructure. Expressing this is
Governor Roy L. Schneider's keystone remark in the wake of Marilyn: "We
will perform a miracle, because we have to."
We will provide details on conditions in these pages as they become available. Return to see our progress!
We wish best of luck to all who are unfortunate to be in Bertha's path.
These USVI web pages are being served from the town of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Cobex Internet Services is proud to provide World Wide Web and Internet services to the the Virgin Islands community, and operates the Virgin Islands Paradise Freenet. Our lines have been very busy the last few days . . . when a hurricane threatens, local residents turn to the Internet for satellite photos, latest coordinates and detailed discussions of the storm's progress. Our offices at Corporate Place, Royal Dane Mall suffered no damage, and power to Charlotte Amalie has been restored.
--S.Pitzl, Cobex