Minneapolis city employees are volunteering to help inspect buildings and plan new construction in the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Virgin Islands.
Four city employees planned to travel to the island of St. Thomas on Thursday to help with permit processing, building inspections and plan review for damaged structures there. St. Thomas and neighboring islands such as St. John were devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year and are still far from full recovery.
In two weeks, the four employees will be replaced by other volunteers who work for the city of Minneapolis.
This effort is part of an interstate mutual aid agreement called the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The costs of this deployment will be reimbursed by the U.S. Virgin Islands, the city said.
