ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS (January 27, 2026) – The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (“WAPA” or “the Authority”) is providing an update to the St. Thomas community following a weekend outage caused by an underground cable fault on Feeder 7B. WAPA recognizes the inconvenience this outage caused for residents and businesses, particularly during the weekend hours, and appreciated the community’s support as crews worked to restore service.
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 24, an underground cable failure near the Lockhart Mall and Wheatley Center intersection in Estate Thomas resulted in a power outage affecting PMP Gardens, eastern portions of Estate Thomas, Raphune Hill, Market Square East, and areas from Donoe through Tabor and Harmony. WAPA crews responded immediately and worked through the evening to restore service safely and as quickly as possible.
By 11:00 p.m. Saturday night, power was restored to all affected areas except Wheatley Center, Banco Popular, and Wendy’s at Estate Thomas. WAPA crews, supported by a local contractor, continued repairs through Sunday and Monday to address the damaged underground cables serving those locations.
Crews worked over 16 hours each day, including necessary isolated outages to safely complete repairs while minimizing customer impact. Underground repairs require careful excavation, testing, and safety clearances before service can be fully restored.
This morning, WAPA crews and the local contractor resumed the repair work. Full restoration of service to affected customers is expected by late Tuesday night, January 27. Additional scheduled isolated outages may be required and will be announced in advance whenever possible. Once the fault was isolated, crews worked to limit further disruptions.
WAPA thanks customers for their understanding and commends its crews and local contractor partners for their commitment and professionalism throughout the restoration. This repair effort also allowed crews to assess surrounding infrastructure as part of ongoing work to strengthen the grid and reduce the likelihood of repeat failures.
###
DOWNLOAD PDF HERE