With all the news about Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico in the wake of this year’s hurricane season, it’s easy to forget about the other US territories in the Carribean. The US Virgin Islands have been apart of the US since 1916 and makeup three islands St. Thomas, St John, and St Croix, all three rely heavily on tourism for their economy. Though they cannot vote in Congress they have sitting Senators and an active Governor and are under Amercian protection and control. In September the islands were hit by both Irma and Maria, Irma quickly decimating St Thomas and St John, Maria coming up from behind taking out St Croix as well and destroying anything that wasn’t damaged with the first round. These islands are not unfamiliar with storms, they are regularly struck by hurricanes but this season was different bringing the strongest storms in recent memory. This story in New York Times examines how the islands are recovering almost two months after the major storms and discusses their road to recovery.
The storm left the islands dark with no power and general infrastructure destroyed. My Nana, a resident of St Croix for more than a decade described the aftermath as “There was not a single leaf left on the island.” This can actually be visibly seen by space with the pictures below. The article states that the Federal Emergency Management Agency still quotes that 73% of the islands still had no power as of last week. Many are simply hoping that the lights will be on by Christmas, assuming their homes were still standing.
This a picture of the Islands of St John and St Thomas after Hurricane Irma. St Criox is farther to the south and a few days after this was taken also looked the same as a result of Hurricane Maria.
The article itself talks about places they visited on each island checking their progress since the storm. On St Thomas they talked to a family whose apartment was completely waterlogged and without power since the storm. They tried to keep it clean and functional, but after having a baby that same month the rising mold and unsanitary conditions caused them to leave and abandon their home. The family noted even that many were less fortunate however losing entire walls and furniture being completely blown away. On St John the followed the Caneel Bay Resort who had large portions of its buildings destroyed and even decided to close its doors for the next year to work on repairs. This has caused a layoff of 300 workers who depend on the tourist and hospitality business for their livelihood. The hotel continues to try and provide what little food refrigeration it can to serve residents and emergency workers on the island. In St Croix, they followed a restaurant called Cibone in Frederiksted. They are still checking to see if the building is structurally sound enough for a complete cleanup. It is covered currently by a blue tarp covering a damaged roof like much of the island. Waterlogged houses have become hotbeds for mold and require masks for cleanup work.
The islands themselves have been largely ignored in the larger media because places like Puerto Rico are larger. But the islands still need a lot of help rebuilding power lines and infrastructure. It is currently asking for 7 billion in emergency aid from the federal government, but in the current political climate, it may be tough. These people are Amercian citizens however and often times aren’t remembered to be.
This connects to our class because the islands were once important hotbeds for sugar cane and the slave trade. They evolved with colonialism and still show the ruins and connections today. Often the problems of race and poverty still exist today as disaster strikes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/us/virgin-islands-hurricanes.html
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=90952