Hurricane Florence update #4
St Regis staff is wrapping up preparations and will be leaving the site very soon. Around 4:00 PM today, the staff will be shutting off power and water to St Regis before evacuating per the mandatory order. We consulted with JOEMC today, who stated that they would make a decision later, based on conditions whether or not to cut the main power supply to the north end of the island. The recommendation was that we shut off power to St Regis prior to to the staff leaving today for safety purposes. With the unknown conditions that lie ahead and not knowing when anyone will be allowed back on the island, it lessens the risk of additional or compounded damage by shutting off the electrical and water supplies to the site. The decision to cut our own power ahead of JOEMC doing so or an outage from the storm reduces the risk of fire or blowing transformers. Shutting off the water reduces the risk of additional water damage due to uncontrolled leaks.
The staff has been in touch with the few remaining people on site who are in the process of vacating. Again, everyone use good judgement and be safe!
More to come later this evening…
Blain