JPS begins electricity restoration in St Elizabeth, 84% of customers now have power
KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) said that around 2:30 am on Tuesday, residents in St Elizabeth began having their electricity restored following major disruptions caused by the passage of Hurricane Beryl last week.
St Elizabeth is the parish most devastated by the hurricane. Heavy rains and strong winds caused significant damage, rendering many roads impassable due to fallen trees and leaving numerous homes without roofs.
READ: Hurricane Beryl leaves trail of devastation in St Elizabeth
“We are doing everything we can to restore service to the critical facilities in St Elizabeth as soon as possible, and the Black River Hospital was our first priority. We have now restored supply to the hospital, as well as to some NWC pumps at Mount Edgecombe, Luana and Darliston,” explained Blaine Jarrett, JPS’ Senior VP of Energy Delivery.
“Over the next few days, we will continue to focus on other critical facilities and, as we restore these, the communities nearby will benefit,” he added.
Jarrett said it would take up to a month for service to be restored to the entire parish.
“The electrical infrastructure in St Elizabeth was extensively damaged, and it will take weeks to repair the damage and rebuild sections of the network. The good thing is that, every day more and more customers in the parish will have their power supply restored. In order to accelerate the pace of restoration, we will be redeploying more resources to St Elizabeth. Over the next few weeks, about 300 workers – a combination of JPS employees and contractors – will be deployed throughout the parish to do restoration work,” he said.
The power company said that as of Tuesday morning, it has restored service to more than 84 per cent of its 692,000 customers across the island.
JPS restoration teams are now working in all parishes to restore service to the remaining customers, a release published Tuesday said.
The utility company shared some of the communities in which its teams will be working over the next 24 – 48 hours:
St Thomas: Sections of Water Lane, Miami Lane, Nutts River Road to District, Top Hill, Golden Grove to Hampton Court, Dalvey, Cutie Shop to Cedar Valley, Baptist Lane, Cedar Valley to Newcastle, Moy Hall, Somerset, Port Morant Bath, Cabbage Hill Communication Tower, Sunning Hill, Water Valley, Nickle Hill, Arcadia, Bowden, Aeolus Valley, Easington Housing Scheme, Windsor Forest
Portland: Sections of Fellowship to Moore Town, Skipper Boulevard, Fern Hill, San San to Fairy Hill
St Mary: Sections of Junction, Quebec, Epsom, Bellevue to Lucky Hill, Petersfield, Tims Berry, Three Hill to Industry Pen, Enfield to Juno Pen, Zion Hill, Flint River, Retreat, Walkerswood, Barracks River, Upton, Exchange, Middle Street, Guy’s Hill, White Hall
Hanover: Sections of Fish River, Cave Valley, March Town, Campbelton, Birches Hill, Winchester, Montpelier, Sandy Bay, Haddington
St James: Sections of Glendevon, Blood Lane, Moy Hall, Irwindale, Chelsea Irwin, Black Shop, Spring Mount, Cotton Tree, Copper Wood
Kingston & St Andrew: Sections of Jacks Hill Primary School, Maamee River Road off Gordon Town Road, Braywick Road, Jacks Hill, Cassava River, Constant Spring, Victoria Street Between Wellington Street and Mitchell Street, Coopers Hill Rise, Brandon Hill Coakley District (Mount Airy), Glengoffe, Irish Town, Westphalia, Bermuda Mount, Redlight, New Castle, Greenwich, Tower Hill, Mavis Bank, Mt Charles, Maryland, Norbrook Mt., Guava Gap, Wireless Station, Mt Salus, Essex Hall, Golden River, Barnett, Retirement, Freetown, Sue River, Harkers Hall, Belmont, King Weston, Luna
St Catherine: Sections of Wynters Park, Kitson Town, Alpine Avenue, Claremont Heights, Poultry Farm, Hill Run, Bellview Heights, Guanaboa Vale Police Station, Hill Run, Amity Hall, Point Hill, Juan De Bolas, Gordon Hill, Avery Sewage Plant, Polly Ground, Riversdale, Williamsfield, Hartlands
Portmore: Sections of Old Cumberland, Passage Fort, Westchester, Waterford, Caymans Site D, South Borough, Upper Fort, Edge Hill
St Ann: Sections of Off Windsor Road to Jus Cheers, Salem stoplight to Hamstead, Backstreet Salem, Moneague, Friendship to Alexandria
Clarendon: Sections of Mineral Heights, Porus Substation to Williamsfield, Lionel Town Hospital, Morgan’s Pass, Colonels Ridge, Brandon Hill, Kellits, St. Johns and Lluidas Vale, Four Paths, Victoria, St. Jago Road, Duke Street, Comfort Road, Clarendon Park, Lionel Town, Monymusk, Hayes, Corn Piece, Raymonds
Manchester: Sections of Alston to Laughton Town, Porus, Williamsfield, Grey Ground, Woodlawn Road, Georges Valley, Upper Mount Nelson, Hatfield, Greenvale, Manchester Road, Balvenie, Bloomfield Street, Patrick Road, Clarks Town, Brumalia Road
St Elizabeth: Sections of Watchwell to Perdo, Top Hill to Junction, Flagaman to Top Hill, Black River to Whitehouse and surrounding areas
Westmoreland: Sections of Nonpareil to West End, Red Hill, Hilton Avenue, West Cliff, White Hall and surrounding areas
Trelawny: Sections of Daniel Town, Duanvale, Sawyers, Stewart Town and surrounding areas