MONTEGO BAY, St James — More than 50 per cent of the houses in Catherine Hall and Westgreen, St James, have been rewired for electricity connection that was badly damaged by flood waters associated with last October’s passage of Hurricane Melissa.

“Happy to say that visiting Catherine Hall, 600 out of 800 houses have been rewired and the other 200, we are working with those households who have specific issues why they are not able to sign up as yet for the connection,” Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz said following a tour of the affected communities on Thursday.

“For Westgreen we are at 100 out of 400 houses and we expect to finish up the other 300 by the end of February,” he added.

The adjoining communities were inundated after rivers overflowed their banks and dumped water, mud, and other debris on the area.

Following assessments by teams from Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Social Development Commission and others, a decision was taken to assist individuals with rewiring of homes to facilitate reconnection to the electrical grid.

The estimate is that households were faced with average costs of $150,000 to rewire their homes. According to Vaz, JSIF’s National Energy Poverty Reduction Project covered those costs.

“The value of the contract for Catherine Hall is $238 million and that was out of the Energy Poverty’s $1 billion that we have been working with, for which I diverted out of other parishes, into the most affected parishes,” he explained.

“[Westgreen] is at a value of $135 million; so you are at close to $400 million in two of the worst affected areas,” the minister disclosed.

Vaz thanked beneficiaries for enduring the challenges they have been undergoing as they seek to recover from the disaster.

“It is heartening to see the community response, their patience, their understanding, and obviously their resilience. Because, as we know, this is a Category 5 hurricane for which Government alone could never respond and do it all at the same time,” he said.

A team of 14 electricians have been working in Catherine Hall while another seven deployed to Westgreen have been making steady progress.

On Thursday, residents could not hide their joy at the effort being exerted to support them in their recovery following Melissa’s passage.

“I want to thank them so much for their help, because them coming in, I did not know that there was so much mud in the plugs. When they took them out we realised that this was a good move,” Westgreen Meadows resident Hope Levy-Finnikin told the Jamaica Observer.

“It has helped me to feel that recovery is on the way and I feel that in short order everything will be back to normal,” she added.

Catherine Hall resident Maria Tate agreed, saying she is again connected to the electrical grid and feeling safe following the work done.

“It has been a blessing and the feelings are just so overwhelming. I can’t even describe it because the help, on a whole, it takes a lot off us, you know. God is good all the time,” she declared.

Tate explained that with the help, her resources can be diverted to other areas of her recovery.

“It has come at no cost to us. We have to buy back everything that we have — furniture, appliances, everything — so this takes off something off our heads,” she said.

Sharon Tapping, another resident from Catherine Hall, also expressed gratitude for the support the communities have received.

“We feel good about it because it didn’t cost us. That money we would have had to spend, we use it to do something else — buy back whether, a refrigerator, or a stove — because we throw away all of the items. That money can do something else,” she said.

“We can’t find the words to express how grateful we are for everything that is being done for us in Catherine Hall,” Tapping added.

For JSIF Managing Director Omar Sweeney, the aim is to get individuals who need the support back on the grid.

“We want to target those persons who are not yet able to receive electricity. Because, while JPS has restored, there are persons who, because of the damage, because of their personal situation [are unable to have service restored]. JSIF, as the social agency on the ground, is willing to work with you to bring your electricity back,” he said.

Sweeney assured that the organisation is moving full speed ahead to see how many communities they can assist under the programme before the end of the financial year.

“We are continuing the programme in nine other parishes. We have targeted more than 2,000 households… with the budget balance for this fiscal year. We will be in Santa Cruz, we will be in Black River, we will be in all of Westmoreland, Chambers Pen in Hanover and… South St James, and other areas,” he said.