Heavy rain disrupts water, electricity service in SW St Catherine

They say they have been without the essential services from late yesterday evening, following a declaration by the Met Service of a Tropical Storm Watch for the entire island.

Over the last 24 hours the country has been experiencing severe rainfall with reports of flooding and landslides in some parishes.

• Gully in Old Harbour region in spate, as Tropical Storm looms

The deterioration in the weather also forced the suspension of classes early yesterday, with teaching continuing online today as per directive from the Ministry of Education.

Yesterday, Old Harbour News was informed by residents that the Coburn Gully was in spate and on the brink of overflowing. However, in an update this morning the water in the channel had subsided though they remain watchful in the hours ahead.

This unease hasn’t been helped with the disruption of electricity that directly correlates with the supply of water and which up to the time of writing is yet to be restored.

The Jamaica Public Service (JPS), in an advisory, said the company is addressing outages across the country with a view to restore normal service within the shortest possible time.

“JPS teams are currently restoring power supply to customers affected by outages caused by the inclement weather affecting the island. The heavy and persistent rains have led to landslides, dislocated poles, and trees coming into contact with power lines, resulting in outages affecting customers in several parishes,” it said in a release.

Through its Director of Corporate Communications Winsome Callum, the release further stated that: “All our operations crews are in restoration mode, and our contractors and other teams are on standby to provide support, as needed.”

“We are also positioning materials close to the areas that we anticipate will be most impacted by the weather system, so that restoration work can start as soon as possible,” Callum added.

“While we will do our very best to get service back to our customers quickly, work could be hampered by continuing heavy rains and lightning. Our teams will not be able to continue working if the conditions are unsafe. Where there are safety concerns, we will suspend work and resume as soon as conditions improve.”

A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for the island said the Met Service in its five o’clock bulletin this morning, though the probability of a cyclone forming has reduced because of how “poorly organised” the “area of low pressure” remains off the coast.

“The potential tropical cyclone remains poorly organised; however, it is expected to produce 200-300 millimetres (7-12 inches) of locally heavy rainfall and strong gusty winds across Jamaica today, especially over southern and eastern parishes. This will result in flooding in affected areas and landslides are also likely,” stated the country’s weather observatory.

A part from communities within the Church Pen Division currently without light and water, there are no other reports received on the disruption in essential services elsewhere in the constituency.

Beyond the south western St Catherine, the National Works Agency (NWA) has advised the closure of the Bog Walk Gorge. “Water is at a critical level and will cover the Flat Bridge. Do not attempt to use the road through the gorge at this time,” the NWA warned while reporting landslides in St Andrew, Portland and St Mary.