THE Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), in preparation for Tropical Storm Tomas, yesterday activated its 133 emergency shelters in the Corporate Area and urged people in flood-prone communities to evacuate once advised to do so.

Mayor Desmond McKenzie, speaking at the council’s disaster committee meeting, to which the media was specially invited, listed Havendale, Meadowbrook, Riverton City, New Haven, Taylor Lands, Harbour View and Bull Bay as vulnerable areas where residents should be prepared to evacuate.

“JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) buses will go to areas as instructed to remove persons from these troubled areas to shelters,” McKenzie told the meeting.

At the same time, he urged persons who have to use the Harbour View bridge to get into the city to make contingency plans as the Government could not guarantee that the temporary structure would not be swept away again, as happened during rains from Tropical Storm Nicole in September.

“If it happens no man should try to walk on water,” he quipped.

The mayor, while acknowledging that the Harbour View bridge was an important link to the city, said that there was “a strong possibility that there might be a reoccurrence of what happened with Tropical Storm Nicole.

“Persons who live in that part of the city (who) don’t want to be caught had better pack their bags and make arrangements to stay in Kingston. Do not try to challenge nature. I believe if the bridge goes the police should prevent persons from trying to cross. It’s frustrating to see persons being washed away and not be able to do anything to stop this,” McKenzie said.

Horace Tulloch, the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) operations manager for Kingston and St Andrew, told the committee that the light and power company was fully prepared.

“We have put everything in place. In case the storm comes we are prepared,” he said.

And Morvin Hamilton, production team manager at the National Water Commission, said that the NWC was ready to truck water to priority shelters. He said a number of the NWC’s systems had been affected by Nicole but “we are now about 90 – 95 per cent operational”.

In terms of the police preparations for Tomas, Superintendent Terrence Bent of Area Four said that business operators were being advised to secure their properties, and promised that the police would work to secure persons in shelters, especially females. “Once appraised we will provide the necessary security,” Superintendent Bent said.

Meanwhile, the JUTC’s Vivien Davis Campbell said that the state-owned company would have buses at the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre and at its depot in Rockfort to facilitate evacuation. She pointed out that the JUTC’s role would be to assist in the evacuation of persons and not to rescue.

Mayor McKenzie, in the meantime, said that the assessment of the estimated infrastructural damage from Nicole had been increased from $2.7 million to $3.3 billion.

He said most of the land slippage from Nicole had been cleared, while the KSAC had started to patch roads. The patching has, however, been put on hold because of the rains expected from Tomas.