The Government is quietly confronting a lesser-known but potentially dangerous fallout from Hurricane Melissa: Thousands of households with compromised electrical systems that could ignite or short-circuit the moment power is restored.

Therefore, assessments for a major $1-billion safety drive in the hardest-hit parishes are now under way to repair and certify storm-damaged homes before the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) switches the grid back on, as authorities brace for what they warn could become a “second crisis” if left unchecked.

The National Energy Poverty Reduction Project, originally designed to assist vulnerable households with wiring and electrification, has now been repurposed as an emergency safety lifeline following Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica on October 28, 2025.

Under this redirected programme, engineers and contractors working with the Government and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) have begun door-to-door inspections in communities where flood waters, roof loss, and prolonged moisture have compromised household electrical systems.

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz said the scale of the damage became immediately clear when reports from the ground showed entire neighbourhoods submerged.

“Catherine Hall was under six feet of water — the entire area. All of those houses have to be recertified. So, from our standpoint, we have the certification fee, and secondly, we’re going to go in there and do the rewiring, certification, and in some instances repairs,” he said during this week’s sitting of the Jamaica Observer Press Club on Thursday.

“We have contractors already that were engaged, went through the procurement guidelines and everything. So JSIF has their own contractors already, ready to move. So there’s no issue of any delay, we can move, but that was one of the first things that struck me; bringing back power and not dealing with what is going to be required for you to be able to turn on your switch don’t make sense, so we are running that in parallel, and we are going to target it,” Vaz added.

In the meantime, JSIF Managing Director Omar Sweeney told the Observer that the programme is prioritising households with clear structural and electrical compromise — particularly those that were flooded or suffered severe roof damage.

The concern, he noted, is that many residents may attempt reconnections themselves, once electricity returns to their communities.

“What we want to ensure is that once the electricity returns and these persons attempt to reconnect or get back the light, that any compromise in the integrity of their system doesn’t cause short circuitry or fire or anything like that,” he said.

Sweeney added that JSIF’s teams are working with Government-collected damage data while conducting their own on-the-ground validation.

Over the next four months, the programme will provide 3,500 minor building repairs to make homes safe for electrification; 1,800 full house-wiring interventions; 5,300 Government Electrical Regulator (GER) certifications — required before legal reconnection; support for solar solutions for families not easily reachable by the grid; and social-service support for roughly 3,000 residents through electrification fairs.

These efforts will roll out across the seven hardest-hit parishes, targeting specific communities identified as high priority: Christiana and Chudleigh in Manchester; Flaggerman, Santa Cruz, and Black River in St Elizabeth; Savanna-la-Mar, Whitehouse, and Prospect in Westmoreland; Catherine Hall, Anchovy, and Norwood in St James; Albert Town in Trelawny; Priory and Alexandria in St Ann; and Chambers Pen in Hanover.

Sweeney said affected residents in the targeted communities have multiple points of entry designed to ensure the process is simple and accessible.

“Persons who would be residents in those communities can first and foremost contact JSIF… as well as they can reach out to either their local SDC (Social Development Commission) office or their political representative once they’re in those communities, and then their representative would then reach out to JSIF,” he said.