KINGSTON, Jamaica — Flow Jamaica has restored home internet and cable services to 1,216 communities which were impacted during the passing of Hurricane Beryl last week Wednesday.

This figure is up from 413 on Saturday, July 6 and represents restoration to 58 per cent of communities which were affected.

More than 2,000 communities lost fixed services (internet, cable and voice) for residential and business customers in the aftermath of the Hurricane Beryl mainly due to the loss of electrical power.

Flow said 70 per cent of the remaining service outages will be restored once commercial power returns to the affected areas.

The main parishes impacted are St Elizabeth, Clarendon, Manchester, Westmoreland, St James and Kingston and St Andrew.

The company also noted that mobile population coverage is now at 81 per cent following the restoration of a total 162 mobile sites that were damaged.

However, Flow said restoration efforts are being hampered by incidents of theft and vandalism in some sections of the island. It noted that prior to the hurricane, 50 generators were vandalised across the Jamaica and three stolen.

Since the passage of the hurricane, the company said it has been impacted by incidents of fuel theft primarily in the parishes of St Ann and St Mary, as well as the theft of a water tank from the Flow retail store in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, and an entire distribution cabinet from a fixed network (voice, internet & TV) site in West Cumberland, St Catherine.

In the meantime, Flow said its Mobile Store on Wheels continues to facilitate charging of devices, sales, top-ups, credit giveaways and other humanitarian services for customers in some communities.

So far, the team has visited the communities of Majesty Gardens, Denham Town, Seaview Gardens in Kingston and St Andrew, Mitchell Town and Portland Cottage in Clarendon, Flanker in St James, and communities in Mandeville and St Elizabeth. The mobile store will remain in St Elizabeth for the week of July 8-12.

The company said it will continue to carry out restoration work in sections of Trelawny, St Mary, Portland, Kingston and St Andrew, St Thomas, and Portmore, St Catherine on July 9 and 10.