[IMG: Hurricane Georges making landfall on the Dominican Republic September 22, 1998; Credit: Dennis Chesters, Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, Craig Mayhew, and Hal Pierce, Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The Caribbean Hurricane Page

Updates from the Islands
Georges - St.Croix
http://www.gobeach.com/hurr.htm


See also the updates on this webpage: http://www.house.gov/christian-green/hurricane.htm

Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 12:40:29 -0400
From: "Sill, Jeff (IMC)" (JSill@hess.com)
Subject: St. Croix Update

 The Weather is back to normal here on St. Croix.
 Most of the island has power restored and WAPA (the island power co.)
expects to have power to the whole island by the weekend.
 The phones are working thruout the island and everyone is trying to
return to a normal life.
 Schools resumed yesterday (Mon.) though a couple still had some
problems. Business has returned back to regular schedules and the
restaurants are open and serving there great menus again.
 I received several e-mails from people around the U.S. and the world
and hope I was able to answer there questions or put there minds at
rest.
 Thanks Gert for this web page and hope we don't need it for another
year. (tho I'll continue to look at it as time allows)


Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 09:14:26 EDT From: Laptop0111@aol.com Subject: message from the Buccaneer, St. Croix Here is a message we received from the Buccaneer in St. Croix: Subject: The Buccaneer The Buccaneer is open and fully operational said Elizabeth A. Armstrong, General Manager of St. Croix's self-contained resort. We sustained minimal water damage to a few rooms and by Tuesday evening, our lobby was set with flowers and we were serving dinner in our Terrace restaurant to saff, family and friends. Last week and this week will be devoted to cleaning the grounds and the hotel will be open for leisure business on October 1. Today, the flags are on the golf course and the nets are on the tennis courts, the watersports center is open with sea kayaks and snorkel gear ready for guest use. The Buccaneer welcomed a small incentive group on Saturday that were unable to go to Puerto Rico, and they have enjoyed playing golf and relaxing on the beach. Ms. Armstrong reported that the storm brought sand to the resorts shoreline, creating even wider beaches. The Buccaneer, a 300 year old resort with some walls four feet thick, has its own power plant and water supply, so never lost services during the storm.
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:11:28 -0600 From: Kim McDaniel (kimm@sltrib.com) Subject: St. Croix - USVI I was in St. Croix during the storm - just got out yesterday on the first commercial flight out (Delta). My husband was on American (was there for work) and amazingly they didn't reroute their flights away from San Juan! He was stuck in their airport for 3 hours with no electricity, no water, no bathrooms! Said it was awful! Luckily, St. Croix was very prepared. We were in a condo right on the beach (Club St. Croix, just west of Christiansted harbor), with hurricane shutters over the balcony opening, and fared quite well. Lots of wind, trees down, lines down, no power for two days, etc but no major structural damage where we were. We did hear reports of some roofs off on the eastern part of the island. The back end, southeast part of the storm was definitely the worst and hardest. Hardly any rain on the front end, the eye was on us for about an hour, then terrible rain and much higher winds on the back side. When I left yesterday, most of the power was back up on St. Croix. They were clearing out a few boats that had come up in Christeansted (sp?) harbor - we saw one deposited neatly on the boardwalk that they took out with a crane. Water was expected on much of the island by today and the long distance lines (though jammed) came back on Tuesday night. The reason not much news has come out is nobody could get on or off the island via phone for a full day after the storm! None dead on St. Croix, though they took the eye and a direct hit on a borderline category 2 - 3 storm, so the prayers evidently worked and they were ready! :) Kim in Salt Lake City kimm@sltrib.com
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 21:48:51 +0000 From: Joan Glynn (jglynn@massed.net) Subject: St Croix about the Solitude Valley on the East End (between Cheesburgers and Duggan's)--all is well, thank God! Roofs are on and people are well. Let's hope the luck continues for the remainder of the season.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 22:37:27 -0700 From: A. M. Woods (amwoods@worldnet.att.net) Subject: Hurricane Georges This is from St. Croix-east of Christiansted. We did survive a direct hit. We were thankful that the hurricane had weakened from the 150 mph winds it had earlier. The eye passed over around 1:30 pm Monday and lasted for about 40 minutes. The first part of the hurricane was rather mild-very little rain. But after the eye, the winds from the south were ferocious-strong and long lasting huge gusts and lots of rain. This part lasted much longer than the first part. For the first time, we kept our telephones during the entire storm although it was not until today that our long distance connection was restored. A radio station in St. Thomas and one in St. Croix stayed on all through the storm. So we are back on line with the world. The power was cut about 2 hours before the hurricane hit. Power has been stored in critical areas (hospital & the two towns, Frederiksted & Christiansted). And it was been restored in other areas, including my area east of Christiansted. But, since I lost a wire from the pole, I am still on generating power. My thoughts are with those in Puerto Rico who seem to have suffered far worst than we did here in St. Croix. Also, I as far as I know, no one died in the U.S. Virgin Islands as a result of the hurricane. Take care, Allan Woods
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 13:54:15 -0700 From: Craig K Tiffany (ctiffany@cisco.com) Subject: Report From St. Croix I just spoke with my In-laws, 1:53 PM PST 9/23/98, who live in the foothills behind Christianson (sp), and they came through the storm remarkably well. Minor damage to the roof and they lost some trees on their property. They don't have power back yet, and have no idea when they will get it back.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 12:33:54 -0700 From: Jim Gilcrest (jimgilcrest@sprynet.com) Subject: St. Croix, Frederiksted I just talked to my family in St. Croix. They run the Cottages by the Sea near Frederiksted. The damage to the buildings is minimal. Some landscaping has been destroyed, but they are in amazingly good condition. Some of the local stores are open. Although the reports had been that the damage was worse at this end of the island (the west), the damage is minor for this type of storm.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 12:46:20 -0400 From: "Sill, Jeff (IMC)" (JSill@hess.com) Subject: St. Croix I'm at Hess Oil's Refinery (S. Central) and we're starting to bring the plant up. The Island looks ok, with quit a few trees down and alot of leaves off the trees. Some houses have some roof damage, but I'd say no more than 10% of the homes. Power is already restored to a few places on the island, but it may be a week or so before everyone has power. I live in Carambola area (NW side) and the roads from there to Hess are drivable, and I hear the whole Island is in pretty good shape. I think the West end of the Island received alittle more damage than the East end, but overall things are not too bad. There was almost no rain on the first half of the storm (eye lasted about 1hr 15min) but in the second half, the rain came! I've heard reports of between 12 to 20 in. from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning. The second half of Georges was alot more intense than the first half and lasted alot longer. The winds were still blowing yesterday morning (Tuesday) till about 10:00AM at around 25-30 MPH. I have not heard of any deaths or major injuries associated with the storm, so that's certainly good news. We hope that's it for storms for the year, but the season is not over yet.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 11:14:11 -0700 From: David Hilburn (dhilburn@viaccess.net) Subject: Re: Hang in there... Gert, We made it...the eye passed directly over the island. This was a strange experience as I'm sure any hurricane can be (my first). We had NO rain for the front part of the storm, only salt spray pickep up from the sea. The first half of the storm was not too bad, but when the eye passed and the 2nd part of the storm started, it was pretty rough. St. Croix is amazingly only moderately damaged. We already have power back to about 25% of the island and we think most of the island will be powered by the weekend. Most of the damage was to vegetation. I think we lost a few boats, but not very many. We only know of a few roofs that were blown off. Everyone is taking the storm in stride, and the police, national guard, and power authorities are doing a great job. I'll let you know if anything changes, David Hilburn St. Croix, USVI
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 09:59:58 -0400 From: Susan.Liebergesell@zcgroup.com Subject: St. Croix Damage Report Just spoke to people on top of Recovery Hill in Christiansted. No structural damage, but alot of water. Property had lush landscape work and all of this is gone and large trees are down. No electricity or out going telephone, but they anticipate that this will be restored (hopefully) in a week or so. It was not as bad as they expected and most work will be clean up of water and dirt.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 98 09:56:18 -0500 From: Lynne Voytershark (lynne_voytershark@ccmgate.sta.scitex.com) Subject: St Croix (Work and Rest Area) St Croix (Work and Rest Area) (Near South Shore a couple miles out of Christiansted near to Humbug, Rosegate & Anna's Hope) Status early this morning phoning out from the island was that power was off but that phones up in this area. (Power & phones both OK in some other areas such as La Grande Princess) just very difficult to get through circuits. Else all OK with minimal damage, i.e. screens knocked out and tree limbs down. Same as stated in the http://www.house.gov/christian-green/hurricane.htm that Plaza Extra Grocery open and roads passable, looking at some clean up but generally all is under control and now getting back to business. (Big relief after Hugo and Marilyn, but it seems that St. Croix is definately looking fine and can hit the ground running for Tourist Season!)
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 09:37:11 -0400 From: charles shivery (cshivery@dpnet.net) Subject: St Croix damage I have a home in the seven hills area and was advised this am by a neighbor that there is minimal damage in the area, also they advised that there was little damage to the boats in green cay marina. Charles Shivery
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 09:20:10 -0400 From: "Hermanson, Michelle x23611" (MHERMANSON@foc.com) Subject: another update regarding St. Croix I just spoke with my parents who live on the hillside above Tide Village. They have minimal damage, as does their neighbor who has a wooden house. The SpyGlass condos near them appear to be ok. They did say some of the condos near Gallows Bay have lost parts of their roofs.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 09:05:44 -0400 From: "Robinson, Earl (IMC)" (ERobinson@hess.com) Subject: St.Croix We have no loss of life on St. Croix and minimal damage, no long distance service yet, some areas of the island have power restored and some grocery stores were open Tuesday. Were ok.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 08:46:17 EDT From: JohnLuce@aol.com Subject: St Croix East End Update Gert, Hope this may help others... Telephone report this morning from St. Croix East End (Grapetree Bay area). This information comes from Rob Bidelspacher who is a real estate agent in Graptree Bay. Rob said the storm was not as bad as Hugo (1989) in spite of the fact that it was about the same size and marched right down the center of the island as did Hugo. The reason for the lesser damage was the storm's eye wall became diffused as it made landfall thereby reducing the concussion effects of otherwise explosive pressure changes that were responsible for so much damage during Hugo. The entire event lasted about seven hours. The advancing storm, with its high winds from the north, pummeled the East End for about two hours. The diffused eye remained for between 52 to 58 minutes. The retreating storm effects, with winds from the south, were much more severe and lasted about four hours. Power lines are down but not many utility poles are snapped off. Trees are denuded of leaves and there is the appearance of devastation however, most buildings and other structures survived with little to no damage. Schools are out until Monday to facilitate power re-installation and full road clearance. Roads are passable but caution is needed to avoid debris. Most telephones are working but long distance calls cannot be made out from St. Croix at the moment. You may be able to call in but you must retry many times in order to gain access to the limited available circuits. Accordingly, please limit all calls to essential communication only. The advanced FEMA representative sent to the VI, Barbara Russell, made an unfortunate misstatement in the governor's hurricane press conference after the storm, She said the eye of the storm passed north of St. Croix. This is not true and may have caused some initial relaxation of concern for those on the island. That is all I have at the moment. I expect an update later today. John Luce.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 07:38:25 -0500 From: William Parker (WParker@giantofmaryland.com) Subject: St. Croix contact FYI: as of 06:30 EDT 09/23/98 I talked to two people by telephone on St. Croix. One lives at Coakley Bay, The other in Christenstead. Both have no power, but there is only minimal damage, roads are passable. They can not call off island.
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 01:02:39 EDT From: WsPrViolet@aol.com Subject: sheaha@aol.com.........Lt. Carol Jeffers...St.Croix Rescue Squad Just spoke to my dad at oooo from Florida . He lives in Sunny Isle area....reporting no electricity but also minimal damage to the area...............experienced primarily water damage. Said there was terrible winds and tons of rain, Elena Christian Jr. High School roof caved in and about two other schools damaged. All government workers to report to work Wednesday. This is a great service ...thank you so much.....I called all the stations in my area and gave this web address out
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 22:07:46 -0400 From: Mark Nelson (mnelson@Charleston.Net) Subject: ST CROIX NW SIDE Just talked to family who live up the mountain from Cane Bay on northwest side of St Croix. The power is out, trees are down, foliage is dead. Only a few buildings have damage and damage is minimal. It seems that there are more trees down than there were after Marilyn, but no where near as much structural damage to buildings. Driving throughout the island is possible -- just a little weaving through some trees.
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 23:38:59 -0400 From: Michelle Charles (charlesm@MIT.EDU) Subject: Another positive report from St. Croix I spoke with my mother who lives in Clairmont (up Scenic road above Salt River - North-Western part of the island). The house and much of the landscaping are pretty much unscathed. One broken window and a couple of trees were the extent of the damage. No electricity yet, but the phone lines are operational.
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 23:25:00 -0700 From: Bill Newkirk (anabel@sunline.net) Subject: St. Croix We spoke to our daughter-in-law who lives in tide village at 11:00 p m . You can get through on the phone if you keep trying. she said they had minimal damage. power is still out and they can't phone off island. Has any one heard whats happened on the northshore in the LaValle area, or the morningstar hill area?
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 19:24:33 -0700 From: Jason Redgrave (jason.redgrave@raycer.com) Subject: St. Croix More good news... Just got off the phone with my mother in Christiansted. She reports things are OK in the area. My house is near the top of the hill between east street and hill street - pretty exposed to the north - was undamaged and even stayed fairly dry! Traveler palms in the yard even survived! She also said that their boat (on the hard in St. Croix Marine) was fine, so presumably the storm surge wasn't too bad. jason
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 20:44:12 -0400 From: Raul Garcia Jr. (rgarcia@pobox.com) Subject: St. Croix update I spoke with my sister in the Tampa area a few minutes ago and she was able to get in contact with our parents on St. Croix. According to my father damage was very minimal with no flooding. In fact according to him, at least in our area "mid-islands (peter's rest/sion farm)" other than some fallen trees and such, the islands looks pretty good and in fact he is going into work tomorrow. Long distance service is back up but it is still very difficult to get through as I have experienced myself..... It looks like we got lucky this time..... hope the good luck lasts all season long...
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 19:34:06 -0400 From: Sue McClymonds (smcclymonds@eypae.com) Subject: info on St. Croix At 17:00 EDT I spoke to my family in Tide Village (between Christiansted and Buccanneer going east). They called out from the island on the phone attached to computer (?) and just kept pushing redial till it went through. Seems the island sustained minimal damage as other are reporting. Trees down but lawn appurtenances such as swingset are still unaltered! School will be open on Thursday, grocery stores open now, no looting reported, roads open, no damage to houses or cars in their area. Power will be back on in their area tomorrow and phones too. Just clean-up required. Boy, was I glad to hear from them and the news was good. So glad it wasn't Hugo all over again.
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 18:47:34 -0400 From: Aldrich . Barry (BAldrich@drc.com) Subject: St. Croix Just spoke with our friends on St. Croix (Beeston Hill - mid-island). Took some persistence to get through, but the lines are up. The island appears to have sustained minimal damage - mostly cosmetic. And, of course, there's tree damage and loss of foliage. Roofs appear, for the most part, to be intact. Power is on in Christiansted and Beeston Hill is scheduled to be restored tomorrow. A drive to Frederiksted showed greater damage on the west end. La Grange Beach Club is gone, Sprat Beach Club in shambles. Word has it that the island is four feet shorter than before the storm!?!? Sounds like good news, overall. We hope others also find good news.
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 17:50:47 -0400 From: Joseph Rogers (jrogers@mhasp.org) Subject: MEDIA ADVISORY Moved to St.Thomas updates.
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:14:34 -0400 From: Gateway Marine Terminal Inc. (kainthfl@bellsouth.net) Subject: St.Croix Status I have been told that there was minimal damage done to St.Croix and local telephone lines are working and long distance is expected back early tomorrow morning. Some stores are open today and Hospital is in good working order

[Tue, 22 Sep 1998 14:58EDT] - Dana Victor Montenegro reporting on the USVI:

     Moved to the St.Thomas page

[Tue, 22 Sep 98 11:29EDT] - rarachel@hotmail.com reporting on St.Croix (USVI):

     we heard last night (9/21, around 5:00pm) that in the shoys beach area the
     roofs were on and the majority of power lines were up, The damage looked to be 
     less than hurricane Marilyn. This information applies to the shoys beach area 
     only. We are anticipating updates but believe that cell phone communication may 
     be down, at least on st. croix.

[Tue, 22 Sep 1998 01:09EDT] - HGHP@aol.com reporting on St.Croix (USVI):

     I managed to get through to St. Croix.  There is damage to roofs, power lines,
     trees, etc., but it was no HUGO.  The person that I spoke with had not heard
     of any storm related deaths.  They were in good spirits and ready to get on
     with clean up.  They said it was rough ride, but nothing like the devastation
     of 1989.

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