Neither states nor nations, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands face rocky storm recovery

[nitpicker]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article181229181.html

Neither states nor nations, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands face rocky storm recovery

By Jacqueline Charles And Mimi Whitefield

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October 27, 2017 10:08 AM

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In the weeks since Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico, the government estimates that 40,000 Puerto Ricans have migrated to the mainland, many to Florida. Residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands also have gone to the U.S mainland since the one-two punch of the hurricanes. If Puerto Rico, where the hurricane death toll now stands at 51, suffers from an invisibility problem in the minds of many Americans, then multiply that many times over for the U.S. Virgin Islands, with its population of only about 110,000.

While the media is now focused on Puerto Rico’s destroyed power grid and ongoing shortages of food and water, many U.S. Virgin Islands residents are facing similar deprivations but without the attention. Power has been restored to less than a third of St. Thomas residents, 16 percent of St. Croix customers, and hardly anyone on St. John — although the power authority hopes to re-electrify portions of Cruz Bay by the end of the week. “Why are people who live in the U.S. Virgin Islands not as important as people who live in other places?” asked Stacey Plaskett, the USVI representative in Congress. “Our lives have been forever changed and we need support.”

Many schools are still too damaged to reopen. Others were destroyed or are still in use as shelters. Limited curfews are still in effect. “We lost much of our economy. Many of our resorts are destroyed, and tourism accounts for about 50 percent of the GDP. Many resorts will be lost for this year and next year,” Plaskett said. The islands already had an unemployment rate of about 12 percent before the hurricanes hit, she said.

So while they wait for more substantial help, Virgin Islanders are trying to start the recovery themselves. “Distance and remoteness is something the USVI has had to live with. At the end of the day, we have to help ourselves,” said Andrew Clutz, who works for the territory’s Economic Development Council.
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Chewning and the company have been working to help since the first hurricane, Irma, hit St. John and St. Thomas but largely spared St. Croix, 40 miles south. Johnson deployed his 40-foot fishing boat, Turn and Burn, to ferry relief supplies and medicine to the two sister islands and carry people to safety.

When Maria approached, the partners chartered a 737 to evacuate about two-thirds of their employees to Miami. After the hurricane passed, they arranged for a second plane to evacuate the remaining employees, plus people with health issues and employees’ pets, including a hedge hog. The plane also brought in 36 generators that were distributed to schools, churches and nonprofits, and pallets of water from Tennessee. “Because we’re so small, doing a little creates a lot,” said Chewning.
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