What's going on in the virgin islands right now?

[fdcg27]

The thing is that the track of a storm as well as its severity is sufficiently unpredictable as to make evacuation an unattractive option for many.
Unless you fled the USVI at least a week ahead of the storm, your evacuation options were pretty limited anyway.
As was pointed out above, these are small islands, so leaving is the only realistic evac plan.
OTOH, if residents evacuated every time it looked like a serious storm might hit the islands, they'd have to leave their jobs and their homes for a couple of months each year only to learn that nothing actually happened.
This is also the reason that so many people hunkered down in Texas and Florida.
They've learned from practical experience that the reality rarely lives up to the hype.

 

[AVB]

I live about an hour north of Tallahassee, my parents wanted me to evacuate to their house in north GA. I have a few trees damaged here and light debris all over the yard. I never lost power or even internet service which is surprising, my parents' power is out tonight. With a storm this big you really don't know where to go, it has caused damage for over 1000 miles.

 

[JHZR2]

There's a ton of destruction. There's also a ton of reports that are unsubstantiated. There were ATMs stolen in St. John. CBP is watching the ports, exits by boat are orderly, Air Force and Navy assets are present, as is the local NG. There is a curfew but it's really intended to keep cars off the roads because most roads are only one lane with required driving over downed wires; traffic severely impedes the tree trucks and chippers from doing their jobs

 

[Bandito440]

Thanks for the update.

I traced the OP's anonymous text message and all reports of unrest to a single blogger.

This underscores the need to verify information before sharing it on social media platforms.

 

[JHZR2]

Spent a whole day going around doing a variety of stuff. Mainly tree cleanup to start. Fuel is the biggest issue. People need it, it's hard to get. Cash is an issue too. Only so many ATMs, lots of resupply coming, but only so much cash. Still precious little network capacity.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
The thing is that the track of a storm as well as its severity is sufficiently unpredictable as to make evacuation an unattractive option for many.
Unless you fled the USVI at least a week ahead of the storm, your evacuation options were pretty limited anyway.
As was pointed out above, these are small islands, so leaving is the only realistic evac plan.
OTOH, if residents evacuated every time it looked like a serious storm might hit the islands, they'd have to leave their jobs and their homes for a couple of months each year only to learn that nothing actually happened.
This is also the reason that so many people hunkered down in Texas and Florida.
They've learned from practical experience that the reality rarely lives up to the hype.


Basically. What people don't realize is that storm disaster scare is big business. Every time there's a wet [censored] in the Atlantic, every single meteorologist wants to be the first to read from Revelations.

Andrew made local meteorologists local celebrities. They've been waiting 25 years for the next Andrew, except it hasn't come. So they try to make every single one into Andrew.

The only reason we had so many evacuations is because of do many new Floridians who have never been through a near direct or direct hurricane before. I'd run from some scary feces I didn't know anything about too.

There's just no Dunkirk for the Virgin Islands. No army of boats to get all those folks out. On top of it, there is always the major chance you evacuate to a place where the hurricane is going to anyway.

Only way around that is to airlift 100,000 people to inland continent. Nobody is paying for that, and probably logistically impossible.

 

[Mr Nice]

I never knew why Brian Norcross was a celebrity after hurricane Andrew.

All the guy did was do his job and report the weather conditions in south Florida for 24 hours.....

 

[JHZR2]

Got solar?

 

[L_Sludger]

They're just known as 'The Islands' now after Irma deflowered them.

 

[JHZR2]

Got gas?




Actually, gas lines are getting shorter, diesel is being supplied but there is only so much infrastructure to bring 100+ gals up a mountain... food and water is here. Power will take a LONG time. Cell data is a major saving grace in a calamity like this.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
They're just known as 'The Islands' now after Irma deflowered them.


Every last bit of green is gone from most trees. Looks like the northeast in winter.

 

[AVB]

Before and after aerial pics, from green to brown.

https://conservativetribune.com/photos-devastation-irma/