Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509190008
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CULEBRA, PUERTO RICO LENGTH: Medium
It moved away from the Caribbean region later in the day, and all hurricane and storm watches were canceled. At 5 p.m., Marilyn was 125 miles north-northwest of San Juan, drifting harmlessly into the open Atlantic.
But the damage had been done. At least three people were reported dead, and 100 more were injured or missing, including several dozen trapped in a collapsed apartment complex on St. Thomas.
President Clinton declared the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico disaster areas, making them eligible for federal emergency aid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent rescue, medical and communications teams to the area.
At the airport of Culebra, an island of 3,000 people 20 miles east of Puerto Rico's main island, Marilyn swept a light airplane onto the Happy Landings restaurant at the end of the runway. Another plane rested upside down on a chain link fence behind it.
``Have you ever been in a blender? That's how we felt,'' said police Lt. Julio Soto.
The hilly island's trees were felled like sticks and stripped of leaves. Homes were flattened on hillsides, their open living rooms visible from the air. Others blew apart into fragments of wood and metal. Three yachts were beached hundreds of yards from the central lagoon. Roads were washed out.
Seven people were missing amid 12-foot waves that sank two fishing boats off St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The U.S. Coast Guard picked up one person from the boats. The survivor, whose condition was not known, was taken to a naval base in Puerto Rico.
Unconfirmed reports indicated at least three people were killed and 100 more were injured on St. Thomas, said FEMA Director James Lee Witt in Washington. At least 12 people were hurt in the collapse of the four-building Tower Apartment complex in the capital, Charlotte Amalie, and 40 to 50 more were believed trapped inside, he said.
Marilyn, the fourth hurricane to hit the Caribbean in as many weeks, hit St. Croix on Friday and grew in strength and size as it surged over St. Thomas, St. John and Puerto Rico's eastern islands Saturday.
Marilyn demolished wooden homes, ripped roofs off buildings, blocked roads with toppled utility poles and trees. It also left entire islands without electricity or phones, making it difficult to confirm reports of deaths, injuries and extensive damage.
The storm devastated areas still surveying damage caused last week by Hurricane Luis, one of the century's biggest storms - places only recently recovered from the ravages of 1989's Hurricane Hugo.
FEMA was activating its ``disaster medical assistance teams,'' civilian versions of MASH-style portable hospitals, spokesman Phil Cogan said.
``The government of the Virgin Islands has asked for military police for both St. Croix and St. Thomas, although they have not confirmed any instances of looting,'' Cogan said.
He also said a team of FBI agents would join satellite equipment being shipped to St. Croix from a military base in Martinsburg, W.Va., ``presumably to assist with law enforcement since military police that might go on the island can't enforce civilian federal law.''
Looters plundered St. Croix after Hugo hit in 1989, but the Virgin Islands government did not ask for U.S. military police help for several days. When they arrived, most businesses had been looted. Virgin Islands officials' early request this time appears aimed at averting a repeat of that situation.
Long-distance telephone service to and from St. Thomas was disrupted after Marilyn knocked out an antenna, said Herb Linnen, a spokesman for AT&T in Washington. Underwater fiber optic cables were not affected.
Ham radio operators in Puerto Rico received a message from St. Croix indicating there was no power on the island. The last confirmed contact with St. Croix came late Friday, when Lt. Gov. Kenneth Mapp said the roof of his bunker was collapsing.
Keywords:
INFOLINE
by CNB