KINGSTON, Jamaica — Vulnerable persons, including those living in low-lying and flood prone areas, are being urged to move to emergency shelters now before the full effect of Hurricane Beryl begins to impact the island.

Acting Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, on Wednesday said persons must not wait too long to move to shelters.

He noted that shelter managers are in place and are ready to receive persons.

“We normally say to persons go early but persons tend not to go early. They tend to stay at home to watch to see what is happening and when they start seeing wind and rain they try to move to the shelters. We want them to go as soon as possible. We have been sending some notices for persons to start moving now to go into the shelters,” Thompson said.

He noted that the shelter management system was activated three days ago.

“The last number we had, there were 20 persons reporting to shelters across the island thus far. That number, I am sure, will go up as soon as we start feeling the full effects of the system…all the shelters have been activated,” Thompson said.

The national shelter, which is set up at the National Arena, has been activated and is ready to receive persons.

— JIS