A power surge on St. Thomas Saturday afternoon knocked out some of the Water and Power Authority feeders, leaving swaths of the island in the dark as the day ended, but WAPA expected to have the system back up and running shortly, according to Jerain Fleming, the utility’s public information officer.
The feeders are being repaired one by one, Fleming said, bringing the power back carefully so that whatever tripped the surge in the first place doesn’t recur.
At the same time, the authority is investigating, what went wrong, she added, in the hopes of preventing a repeat.
WAPA just needs to come out to the West End and watch the coconut palms that were stupidly planted under the power lines that have now grown into the power lines and arc when the wind blows. Talk about a power surge. Trimming or cutting the vegetation would solve a lot of their surging problems.