USVI declares SoE on St Croix due to influx of sargassum seaweed
US Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan has declared a state of emergency to mitigate the impact of high levels of sargassum seaweed piling up on the shoreline.
Bryan said the seaweed is having a negative impact on water-production capabilities on St Croix. The sargassum build-up and maintenance efforts have increased to keep the water intake for the desalinisation plant on St Croix clear from seaweed and biological build-up.
Bryan also requested the Biden Administration to declare a federal emergency on St Croix regarding the sargassum inundation.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sent teams to the territory to assist the Virgin Islands Government to coordinate a response.
“I want to assure St. Croix that we don’t anticipate any impact on public health from this annual invasion of Sargassum in our waters, including the stench that we all, unfortunately, have learned to live with every summer,” Bryan said. “However, the seaweed overrunning our beaches also brings the potential for disruption to businesses and other negative financial impacts to our economy. I have assembled a team that includes primary public agencies, including Health, DPNR and VITEMA, and the semiautonomous agencies that have been meeting to coordinate efforts with FEMA and other federal partners.”
The Executive Order that Bryan issued designated Department of Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Jean-Pierre Oriol as the incident commander and directed the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) to activate the Emergency Operation Centers.
The order also directs the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs to institute price freezes on some goods and services.
Bryan said while there is an immediate threat to St Croix, pre-emptive efforts are underway on St Thomas to prevent adverse impacts to the water production.
The US National Oceanography and Atmospheric Administration’s Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System has forecast that sargassum blooms will impact many Caribbean islands into mid-October.
0 Comment