KINGSTON, Jamaica—The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says electricity has been restored to more than 50,000 customers across Kingston, St Andrew, St Thomas and St Catherine.

The company in a media statement on Thursday, also reported extensive damage to key infrastructure across its power delivery network, following the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa.

“The backbone of the electricity grid has suffered tremendous damage,” said JPS president and CEO, Hugh Grant, following an aerial tour of the most severely hit parishes.

“Several high-voltage transmission facilities, including towers made of steel were completely destroyed by the extreme hurricane force winds that swept across sections of the island. Although it is too early to grasp the full extent of the damage, from what we have seen so far, it will take a while to rebuild and restore power to all our customers,” Grant explained.

The company said JPS teams are using the opportunity to do repairs in areas with less extensive damage and get power back to customers where it is safe to do so.

Grant warned that while power has been restored to some areas, the high voltage transmission backbone of the system that traverses some of the most severely damaged areas remains compromised.

“We are partnering with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) to continue helicopter patrols of those facilities in order to have a better understanding of the scope of repairs that are required to restore those facilities and stabilise the grid,” he said.

“We understand the inconvenience being experienced by our customers who are without power,” Grant further expressed. “The one thing we know is that this will be a rebuild of significant portions of our infrastructure, and not just a restoration in order to get the power back on. But rest assured, our teams are working non-stop twenty-four sevens to get the lights back on, while we are taking steps to get even more overseas line workers to assist.”

As work continues, the energy company is reminding members of the public to take extreme care to ensure their safety and that of their families.

The company is also appealing to the public to stay away from downed power lines.

“We are committed to keeping you informed of our progress. We believe in the resilience of our people, and we are confident that together we will get through this,” Grant said.