Updates on hurricane damage in St John?
 

Here's hoping that Omar produced little real damage on the island. Difficult to get any sort of real reports from mainland news. Hoping that folks in the USVI's will report when possible. Thanks much.

One of my writers lives on St. John, so as soon as I hear from her, I'll post a short report here. She's pretty good about letting me know how things are doing, though it might be a while before she gets back online if the power goes out.

Evidently, St. John came through pretty much ok. I just heard from my writer, who says, "St. Croix took the brunt of Hurricane Omar, but it's mostly tree damage and stuff like gutters down. Power is out in various places, but mine just came back on minutes ago. We just got wind around 1 a.m."

I think that's all good news for St. John. If I hear anything more substantial about St. Croix, I'll let everyone know.

Thanks, Doug.

I just got a bit more information, so here goes.

"Here's some more details. Power is out all over St. Croix because a problem in the field caused the main power plant to shut down last night. No idea when it will return, but they're working on it.

St. Thomas and St. John have pockets with power out, but crews are checking for downed lines and blown transformers so those areas can get power returned.

It's mostly tree damage on St. Croix, but houses lost gutters and there are some boats sunk and ashore at the St. Croix Yacht Club located at Teague Bay. I talked to the person who answered the phone at the Buccaneer Hotel and she said around 11:30 to midnight it really blew and was very noisy. The golf course is flooded.

So, there's the morning report from Coral Bay, St. John."

By the way, you can thank our St. John writer, Lynda Lohr, for this report. I'll try to get in touch with my writer who lives on St. Thomas and get some first-hand info from there, but if they are having power outages, it may be a while before I hear from her.

Here's another useful site:

http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/

I'm so pleased that none of the islands seemed to have sustained real devastation. And always feel sorry for anyone who's lost even a little. Good wishes to all.

I believe St Maarten was hit pretty badly from the reports I have been reading on Traveltalk.

RL

Latest update is that the beaches are closed due to runoff:

http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/...0&Itemid=1

I appreciate the correction-- and of course am sorry to learn it. All good wishes to the folks this impacts.

Stormcarib.com is also a good place to get info. I was checking that site regularly and am so grateful for the updates from the volunteer reporters down there. It's almost miraculous how the hurricane seemed to pick the least damaging path. Even though some islands were more heavily hit, it could have been so much worse! It's too bad about all the run-off. Much of it has been exacerbated by all the additional building projects. Environmentalists warned against density. Coral Bay will be a mess for a while. Hope the Feds are keeping their eyes on this important watershed area.