Private Sector Advisory
Progress Underway in U.S. Virgin Islands Recovery
after Back-to-Back Hurricanes
CROIX, Virgin Islands – U.S. Virgin Islanders were making
progress facing the devastation of Hurricane Irma when, just two weeks later, a
second Category 5 storm pummeled the territory. In the weeks since Hurricane
Maria finished the job that Irma started, a massive and united effort is
underway to help island communities and survivors put their lives back
together.
The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) is coordinating the federal response effort, working with the
territorial government, federal and local partners as well as the private
sector and voluntary organizations to help restore essential services to the
islands and meet survivors’ recovery needs.
Since hurricanes Irma and Maria
struck in September, important milestones have been achieved. Roads are getting
cleared of storm-related debris, commercial airline flights are coming and
going, seaports are active, grocery stores and restaurants have opened,
financial assistance for critical needs is getting to survivors and many
children have returned to school.
“We are making significant
progress in some areas, but we have a long road ahead,” said FEMA’s Federal
Coordinating Officer William Vogel. “We will be here for as long as it takes to
help the Virgin Islands and its people come back stronger.”
Some students have already
resumed the 2017-2018 school year. To date, 10 schools have reopened in the St. Thomas/St. John School
District and more than 2,800 students and 271 teachers have returned to the
classroom. Additional schools are scheduled to reopen in St. Croix in the
coming days to ensure the school year isn’t lost.
Federal partners are working to
support Gov. Kenneth Mapp’s priority of getting schools reopened across the
territory. To support the governor’s school resumption initiative USACE has
installed 28 generators
at schools and is working with the territorial Department of Education to
assess options to provide classroom space for students at damaged schools.
These options may include durable tent-like structures or modular units.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) personnel have helped the U.S. Virgin
Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNRP) and Department of
Health (DOH) assess potential environmental dangers and water quality at the
schools while local workers from the community assisted with the cleanup
effort.
At the St. Croix Educational
Complex, Danish Emergency Management Agency personnel helped get the facility
ready for students by cleaning up, removing damaged ceiling tiles and repairing
parts of the roof.
Debris removal from Virgin
Island roadways and neighborhoods has resulted in supermarkets, gas stations and other stores restocking
their shelves and reopening for business. Federal, territorial, local and
private sector partners have worked around the clock to help restore
functionality to the islands’ supply chain that was severely disrupted by port
closures and the debris-littered roadways.
Boosted by $11.2 million in
expedited assistance from FEMA for debris removal costs, the Virgin Islands has
cleared 75,000 cubic yards of storm-related debris, and the territorial
government is moving ahead with its residential debris collection effort. This
is the first step in removing the estimated 1.1 million cubic yards of debris
left in the wake of the two hurricanes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE) is on the ground, working with the territorial government on debris
clearance and on management strategies to clear the piles of debris.
The Virgin Islands Water and
Power Authority (WAPA) continues to work jointly with the Virgin Islands Waste
Management Authority and the Department of Public Works on a clean-up
initiative across the territory.
A massive effort is underway
to restore power throughout the territory. The importance of having a regular source of power
for survivors has been a top priority of the Virgin Islands government since
the monster storms knocked out power to the islands.
With $24 million in expedited
FEMA grants, WAPA is moving ahead with the emergency repair of transmission and
distribution lines in St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John. Although the
percentage of customers on the grid fluctuates as work progresses day by day,
WAPA is forging ahead to meet its goal of having 90 percent of the territory’s
power restored by Christmas.
The power authority is shipping
in power lines and poles as well as 500 lineman from across the United States.
When all are in place – 250 have already arrived – these workers will have
increased the local capability tenfold. This is ten times the amount of WAPA workers
in the territory prior to the hurricanes.
At a recent news conference Gov.
Mapp said he has asked USACE to assess the territory’s entire power generation
system, to include the cost of burying lines, saying, “We are going to work
towards a more resilient power production and distribution system.”
With cellphones a mainstay of
communications across the islands, the restoration of cell services is another
priority in the Virgin Islands. FEMA and federal partners continue to work with
the private sector in support of territorial efforts to restore cellular
communications. Meanwhile, local telecommunications provider Viya has
established nearly 25 Wi-Fi hot spots throughout the islands, giving survivors
and responders a vital communications resource.
A whole community effort is in
full force to maintain medical care and public health support for survivors
across the territory.
Hundreds
of healthcare professionals from the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) have supported and augmented
local medical staff who were working steady 12-hour shifts in the weeks since
the hurricanes. Many continued to care for patients despite damage to their own
homes and the need to evacuate their families.
What’s more, the three major
hospitals throughout the territory were battered by severe winds and flooding.
In response, the military’s 575th and 602nd Area Support
Medical Companies (ASMC) established mobile medical units outside of St.
Croix’s Gov. Juan Luis Hospital and Medical Center as well as St. Thomas’s
Schneider Medical Center to offer backup support for patients needing medical
care.
Personnel from the National
Disaster Medical System (NDMS), part of HHS,
provided medical care at St. John’s Myra Keating
Smith Clinic before relocating to the Morris F. deCastro Clinic. NDMS
staff also provided basic medical services at the fire station in Coral Bay,
St. John. HHS and DOD workers provided basic
healthcare services, such as triage and emergency medicine.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
is also contributing to the effort to ensure ongoing patient care. It will be
setting up interim soft-walled durable structures or modular units at damaged
hospitals on all the islands and at DOH facilities. These units can expand to
capacity and allow additional space for surgery and post-op patient recovery.
Among its many efforts on behalf of Virgin Islanders, DOH is providing
recurring walk-in clinical services from a mobile medical van. The health
department is also providing infant-toddler kits, prescription medicine and
family planning services.
HHS and DOD continue to evacuate
patients who need critical care. So far, more than 300 patients with critical
care needs have been evacuated to the mainland for additional medical
attention. HHS and DOD are following up with medical centers and local
organizations in Atlanta and Columbia, S.C. for their care.
Because flooding offers a
breeding ground for mosquitoes spreading waterborne viruses, staff from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been working with DOH on
vector control issues. U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps personnel
have performed environmental health assessments at shelters, childcare,
healthcare and educational facilities.
CDC is also supporting DOH in
getting health and safety information to communities about post-hurricane
risks. Health advice focuses on promoting mental health in the storms'
aftermath, staying safe while cleaning mold, preventing carbon monoxide
poisoning and more.
Staff from across the federal
family have been out in the communities.
FEMA’s Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA) and
Disability Integration teams have been fanning out across the islands for
weeks, meeting survivors in their communities, helping them register for
assistance and providing answers to their questions. DSA personnel have met
with more than 13,000 people and registered nearly 7,000 for FEMA assistance.
FEMA recovery specialists are
also at four Disaster Recovery Centers in St. Croix and St. Thomas to help residents
face to face with information and questions about their registration. So far,
the centers have logged more than 2,300 visits – and additional recovery
centers are opening soon on all three islands. Representatives from the U.S.
Small Business Administration are also at the centers providing information
about low-interest disaster loans to individual survivors, as well as
businesses, to repair or rebuild their homes.
Even with the logistical and
communications challenges survivors have faced since the storms, more than
26,000 individuals and families have registered with FEMA for assistance under
the two disaster declarations for hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Because of the severe challenges
on the islands, FEMA has activated its Critical Needs Assistance program, which
gets emergency funding into the hands of survivors as quickly as possible to
take care of urgent needs, such as food, medical care and transportation. So
far, nearly $2.5 million is going to survivors for critical needs. This is in
addition to repair grants or housing assistance they may receive.
More than 50 FEMA housing
inspectors are visiting neighborhoods across the territory to verify hurricane
damage as an important step in getting more assistance to survivors. With
nearly 2,700 home inspections now complete FEMA has authorized more than $1.4
million in survivor housing assistance. Word is also spreading about SBA
low-interest disaster loans as well. So far, survivors have been approved $4.6
million in disaster loans to repair and rebuild their homes.
As USVI residents begin to
rebuild, USACE is supporting their efforts by doing temporary roof repairs
through its Operation Blue Roof program. USACE has received more than 4,106
requests for assistance and covered 893 homes and facilities with the blue plastic
reinforced sheeting. USACE has established centers on St. Croix, St. John and
St. Thomas for survivors to learn about the program and sign up for assistance.
Every disaster recovery mission
poses unique challenges. When local communities and residents must deal with
back-to-back catastrophic hurricanes across three separate islands – amid
ongoing dangerous storms and flooding – the challenges to recovery mount
considerably. FEMA is committed to working with the U.S. Virgin Islands
government, survivors and partners across the whole community to help restore
and rebuild these communities.
###
Disaster recovery
assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality,
sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone
you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362
(voice, 711/VRS - Video Relay Service) (TTY: 800-462-7585).
Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish).
FEMA’s mission is
to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work
together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against,
respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
Following
major disasters, the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the
primary source of Federal funds for long-term recovery assistance. This
assistance is in the form of low-interest loans and is available to non-farm
businesses of all sizes, private nonprofit organizations, as well as homeowners
and renters with property damaged by the disaster.
For official information on
the recovery effort following the hurricanes, please visit www.informusvi.com
or www.usviupdate.com.
Follow us on social media at twitter.com/femaregion2
and ww.facebook.com/FEMAUSVirginIslands.
To donate or volunteer,
contact the voluntary or charitable organization of your choice through the
National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disasters (NVOAD) at www.nvoad.org.
For those who wish to help, cash donations offer voluntary agencies the
most flexibility in obtaining the most-needed resources and pumps money into
the local economy to help businesses recover. The
Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands also has the “Fund for the Virgin
Islands” at www.USVIrecovery.org.