Although Tropical Storm Rafael passed close to the Virgin Islands over the weekend, it was pretty hard to notice. Despite officials’ earlier concerns that the territory would receive heavy rainfall, the storm left little lasting impact. The storm, which at one point was expected to pass very close or directly over the territory, veered eastward leaving the territory unscathed, Sharleen DaBreo, the director of the Department of Disaster Management said today.
“We haven’t had any reports of damage,” she said, adding that officials are waiting until the end of today to measure the storm’s total rainfall. Acting Chief Fire Officer Zebalon McLean said that Fire and Rescue Services officers did not have any calls related to the storm.
“Rafael spared us. He did us fairly well by us,” Mr. McLean said.” Just a little rain.”
The tropical storm had started out life earlier last week as a tropical disturbance but meteorological officials named it after a “hurricane hunter” aircraft detected a major increase in the storm’s wind speed, Ms. DaBreo said.
See the Oct. 18 edition of the Beacon for full coverage.
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