A young man clearing road in Road Town. Photo: John Black

Workers from the Public Works Department, the BVI Electricity Corporation, the BVI Fire Services, Police and community members were part of a major cleanup operation on various parts of the Territory from Tuesday.

Several roadways were blocked on Tortola by fallen trees while a few buildings suffered direct damages to infrastructure with the building that houses the Customs office at the Water front driving being assessed as the worst damaged sustained by a building.

Some boats and barges were reported to have sunk with extensive damage sustained to a number of small boats and yachts.

Speaking to VINO today, Acting Director of the Public Works Department Dr. Drexel Glasgow said all of the major roadways in the Territory have been cleared while workers continue to work to ensure all roadways will be back to “near normal” conditions in another couple of days.

Dr. Glasgow commended the workers of the PWD on Tortola and the main sister islands for their ongoing dedication. He said the department had activated its Emergency Centre at 3 a.m. on Monday morning prior to the passage of Hurricane Earl and he said many workers have slept over as they worked around the clock to get the job done.

The public works head said they did not have any major hiccups along the way and said the major cleanup campaign that followed on Tuesday after the passage of Hurricane Earl was a success as the main roadways were cleared by 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

The department engaged all its crew and equipment and had to also utilize the service of private equipment to get their job done.

Following the passage of Hurricane Earl on Monday, most of the island of Tortola was out of electricity and water including Anegada. However, up to yesterday electricity was restored to most of Tortola while water and the ferry service were also restored to Anegada.

Before, during and after the passage of Hurricane Earl, the Department of Disaster Management has been issuing updates to the public on the status of the hurricane has continues to do so for other weather systems including Tropical Storm Fiona and newly formed Tropical Depression Gaston.