Wisconsin Boy Scout Troop stuck in Virgin Islands during Hurricane Erin
By Andie Bernhardt
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ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands (WDJT) — A local Boy Scout Troop is feeling the impacts of Hurricane Erin, the first Atlantic Hurricane of the year that exploded into a category five hurricane Saturday, Aug. 16.
“It’s a hairy situation, there’s no doubt about it,” said Boy Scout Troop 851 Leader Ryan Schroeder.
Schroeder says what was supposed to be a week-long trip for the troop to test their sailing and snorkeling skills in St. Thomas is being disrupted by Hurricane Erin.
“The winds have been pretty serious, lots of rain,” said Schroeder. “We have not had much power outages. Thankfully the place that we are staying has a generator and we just had flickers of power.”
When the troop, which is based out of Plymouth, Wisconsin, heard the storm was coming they tried to end their trip early. Now their stay time could be doubled.
“There are no flights available to leave St. Thomas until Friday for seven of us and Saturday for three of us,” said Schroeder. “Things are pretty expensive down here and so we are looking for ways to get home.”
With ten total on their trip, the troop says they are running out of funds to pay for the additional food and shelter.
“Airbnb’s and hotels here in St. Thomas and meals are equivalent to that of Hawaii basically,” said Schroeder. “We had everyone in an Airbnb and it was $2,500 for two nights.”
He says some of the troop leaders are also running out of their medication and with a majority of the island closed for the storm, it’s not an easy get.
“Theres only so many things that you can prepare for, hurricanes not really one of them,” said Schroeder.
The troop taking it day by day, while learning lessons along the way.
“It hasn’t necessarily been wrecked, it’s a different kind of adventure,” said Schroeder. “So. we are trying to keep a positive spin on it for everybody.”
Schroeder says they were told the pharmacies would be open Monday to help, but they are still worried about getting back home and coming up with the means to pay those extra costs.
There’s a GoFundMe to support the Troop.
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