If you heard electrifying yelps coming from Frenchtown about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, it was a chorus of restaurant owners, residents and fishermen as power was restored after Earl made off with it on Monday.
V.I. Water and Power Authority Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. stopped by the area at noon for a personal site visit. There was no lunch, however. The bayside area, which houses five restaurants, has not had power since the storm knocked it out Monday.
Hodge said, "The lines were energized Tuesday. They had to deal with a high-tension wire over the fish house. There’s another by Oceana at Villa Olga, where a tree downed the line. The crews will fix the line and trim the trees there. They are coming this afternoon. Everyone will have power by tonight. This is just our second day of restoration."
Hodge has had his hands more than full, getting all V.I. schools up and going for Thursday.
He said all feeders in both districts would be energized by Wednesday evening.
Because of WAPA’s progress Gov. John deJongh Jr. said in a Wednesday release, that the current curfew is discontinued.
Nonetheless, restaurant owners and fishermen were anxious Wednesday morning when they had yet to see a blue-and-yellow WAPA truck.
Hook Line and Sinker owner Ted Luscz is a weather veteran, a survivor of more storm aftermaths than he or his wife, Becky, care to remember.
"People have been driving by, and coming to the door all day yesterday and today. They are disappointed. People need a place to commiserate, and they need a hot meal. It’s been my experience that people don’t come so much to drink as to find somebody to talk to.
"When I owned Bar Normandie after Hugo and Marilyn, the National Guard came to play outside and everybody came to find some comfort."
Though Luscz allowed that WAPA had its hands full, and he was grateful for Hodge’s personal visit, he couldn’t help expressing the irony. "The one time when we suffered no damage, and were ready to open …."
He said the restaurant was already planning to close for its annual September cleaning from Sept. 4 through 20, "so we’ll just close early, from today."
The WAPA truck pulled into the parking lot late Wednesday afternoon. The assembled fishermen glanced at one another, and set out to inspect the rig, which approached the high-tension line in back of the Gustave Quetel Fish House, where 35 fishermen have their freezers protecting their catch.
"Look," joked one of the crowd, pointing to the cab of the cherry-picker. "He stopped for a coconut. He could have done that on the way down."
Getting the wires in working order, however, was a serious affair. Lineman Michael Torres, who said he’d been on the job for 16 hours already, headed the small crew.
In answer to the fishermen’s questions and ribbing, he promised the power would be restored within a couple hours.
"We have to connect the line here, and then we go to Villa Olga to get the line there, which has a tree on it," Torres said. "Before anything can be activated, we have to do a thorough investigation. For instance, we have to look for broken wires, fuses, downed poles."
He confirmed the lines were energized Tuesday. "We energized the main lines Tuesday, but today we are doing the branch-offs," he said.
Torres traveled with what the fishermen joked was his "secretary." Germain Plaskett is actually an auditor. Taking a moment from entering data on her clipboard, she said she keeps track of fuse links, connections and insulation materials, to name a few. "The job takes me outside only during disasters," she explained with a smile.
Fisherman Cyril Greaux is one of the few with a generator, which he shared with an extension cord to fellow fisherman Julian Magras.
Greaux opened the freezer to reveal about 100 pounds of yellowtail fillets, still frozen. "These should have been delivered already," he said, while expressing gratitude for his generator.
The fisherman leave their freezers shut, with no power. Most of those gathered Wednesday said their catches were packed with enough ice, that they should be OK.
Down the road, Betsy Sheahan, of Betsy’s Bar, had been serving drinks only Wednesday afternoon to her steady clientele, happily crowded outside sipping as only loyal fans will on warm beer.
Sheahan expressed disappointment at her planning. "I’m always telling people to be prepared, but here I am. Tonight we’ll just have a limited menu, burgers. You know," she said, "we always have power in Frenchtown first, so…. Anyhow," she said with her trademark smile, "What can you do?"
