Sept. 12, 2005 – Power outages began to roll across St. Thomas late Monday morning as two units at the Water and Power Authority plant went down.
Glenn Rothgeb, WAPA chief operating officer, said in a release from his office the authority began to experience difficulty in meeting the demand for electricity Monday morning when both Units 22 and 23 went down.
A sump pump failed, causing water to back up and feed into the conduits of Unit No. 22. Rothgeb said. Because Unit 22 and 23 are interconnected in some areas, Rothgeb said Unit 23 was also affected.
WAPA requested large customers with generators to use them.
Rothgeb said the authority would be working through the evening to complete repairs on units 22 and 23.
The release, sent at 5 p.m., said all St. Thomas feeders should be functioning by 5 p.m.
It was a bad day all around for the authority. Completely unrelated problems struck St. Croix, leaving the entire island without power for a part of the afternoon.