THE destruction Hurricane Beryl caused in July still fresh in their minds, several Jamaicans on Monday left nothing to chance as they prepared for the impact of Tropical Storm Rafael which was predicted to dump heavy rains islandwide, potentially leading to flooding and landslides.

The weather system, according to the Meteorological Service of Jamaica (Met Office), was projected to cause heavy rainfall and gusty winds in mainly southern and eastern parishes, beginning Monday evening and continuing for the next few days.

The Government activated the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) in light of the expected adverse weather conditions, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister said on Monday. The NEOC, said the release, is ready to coordinate preparedness and response measures as the situation evolves. It said the centre will focus on mobilising resources, ensuring effective communication, and maintaining readiness to provide support and aid to communities that may be affected.

At the same time, acting director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) Richard Thompson told the Jamaica Observer on Monday afternoon that the office was in full preparation mode and operation of emergency protocols.

Thompson noted that while no shelters were open at the moment, all shelter managers across the island have been placed on standby.

“So that’s part of our preparation — from what we were doing since Friday in terms of in a position of observing the system with ODPEM and the Met Office, and then from our operation planning meeting yesterday afternoon where we got an update from all the entities as to what their preparedness plans were, and from the local authorities as well. Shelter managers [are on alert] for shelters to be activated, especially in the flood–prone areas, as needs be, dependent on what is happening in those locations,” he said.

Thompson explained that because the projected path of the system is south-west of Jamaica, and it keeps moving a little bit further south-west, “We were projecting to have wind gusts probably up to 40 knots — which is like 45 miles per hour or 70 kilometres per hour — and so the bulk of what we’ll be getting is rainfall.”

He said that while rainfall is expected to be concentrated mainly in the southern and eastern parishes, a tropical storm warning is in effect for the entire island and so everywhere will have some rainfall activity.

“People just still need to be on the alert. Anything is possible, because flash flooding can happen at any time,” he warned.

“We have been having landslides already with the amount of rainfall that we have been having for the past two to three weeks, with the ground being at full saturation. We have a landslide up in Golden Spring to Mount Airy — that road has broken away and community is literally marooned. There’s another major landslide between Border and Cuffy Gully in St Mary; those areas have been already impacted outside of us prepping for Tropical Storm Rafael,” he said.

He also advised people to be vigilant and not to attempt crossing flooded areas, “because two feet of water can wash away a car”.

“We are also reminding persons not to try to walk over flooded gullies. Some persons have a thing of crossing over some areas that have gullies — they put planks across the gullies, and they walk across it because this is the shortest way from one community to the other community, instead of going around or walking on a pipe across a gully. We are saying to persons, ‘Don’t do that, especially when it’s raining. We don’t want people to try to walk over these flooded areas. And just listen to the updates from ODPEM and the Met Office,” he said.

In the meantime, in a release on Monday, Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) also advised that it had activated its Emergency Operation Centre located at 65 Hanover Street, Kingston, which manages all emergency shelters across Kingston and St Andrew (See related story on Page 8).

Additionally, the corporation’s Poor Relief Department has commenced plans for the homeless and other vulnerable groups.

Mayor of Kingston Councillor Andrew Swaby told the Observer that the Health Department and National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) will be assisting KSAMC with the pickup of homeless persons for them to be placed in homeless shelters, where necessary.