WAPA Not Hurricane Ready, and Other PSC Revelations

As peak hurricane season approaches, representatives of the Water and Power Authority told the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission they were well short in many key hurricane preparedness categories Wednesday.

Optimally, WAPA would have a 12-day supply of liquified petroleum gas and diesel on hand. It had between 95 and 72 percent of what was needed, utility representatives said. Where they were truly short was in spare parts and funding, said WAPA Incident Commander Don Gregoire.

The utility had just 15 percent of the equipment needed for power generation that it would want, five percent of the money it would need if a major storm struck, and only two percent of the transmission and distribution equipment it would want on hand.

While it had 59 percent of optimal water storage to weather a hurricane, it was important to have the tanks full during windstorms as they are better able to withstand the force of hurricane winds, he said.