FLOW Jamaica says the premature start to the 2018 Hurricane Season on May 25, when subtropical storm Alberto formed East of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, serves as a stark reminder of last year’s devastating season.

It also pointed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration prediction that there is a 35 per cent chance of an above -normal hurricane season this year.

“All this makes preparation for the 2018 season an even greater priority,” said Garry Sinclair, Cable & Wireless Caribbean president.

He said that Cable & Wireless, which operates both FLOW and C&W Business Solutions in the region, has been preparing for the season and encourages everyone to be on alert and ready to take the necessary steps to protect family and property.

FLOW, said Sinclair, has already completed a series of rigorous hurricane drills across its markets and has begun customer awareness campaigns. The company has also invested in new cellular towers built specifically to withstand Category Five wind conditions and has been rolling these out as part of its restoration efforts in the badly affected territories of Dominica, British Virgin Islands, and Anguilla.

Additionally, the company said it has also reinforced its sub-sea network that connects the Americas to the world with increased transmission capacity across fibre links in some markets and put in place even more redundancy options — alternative routes for data and mobile traffic, in the event of an emergency.

Said Sinclair: “While we are enormously proud of our network performance in the hurricane-impacted islands last year, we know we have to continue to prepare for the current season. We are hard at work shoring up our defences to make our networks even more resilient and robust for the 2018 season. For example, in Dominica, one of the hardest-hit markets, we’ve relocated our Main Exchange to higher ground — a reinforced second floor location. In the BVI, another hard-hit market, we reinforced the network towers and expanded the underground network to bolster redundancies should telephone poles become compromised during a hurricane.”

He added: “Hurricane preparedness has to be a priority for everyone including regional governments and businesses. We at C&W continue to hold true to our commitment to keep our customers connected to family and friends especially when it matters most, during times of disaster.”