FRIDAY, October 9, 2026, just before midday, dark clouds, pregnant with rain, hovered ominously over Kingston and St Andrew.

By early afternoon the sun had disappeared and the heavens burst open, drenching a city that had endured months of punishing drought.

“Finally, the drought done now!” one woman declared, her face lighting up as the long-awaited rain came in heavy torrents for about halfhour, flooding streets in the process.

“I hope this falling in Mona and Hermitage,” said another woman, referencing the Mona Reservoir and Hermitage Dam — the two major water storage facilities that supply the capital city.

However, Water and Climate Change Minister Matthew Samuda says Friday’s rain was not enough to ease the drought.

“Effectively, it’s a drizzle when you compare it to what we really need,” he told the Jamaica Observer Saturday afternoon.

“This is our rainy period where we’re supposed to have sustained rainfall from the last week in August, but six weeks later we’re celebrating an afternoon shower.

Nobody should be of the opinion that we’re out of the woods,” Samuda added.

He said while the volume of rain has improved water levels at the Mona Reservoir and Hermitage Dam, “There is no [rain] storm that has the ability, in a single day, to fill those two storage facilities.

What we have experienced is six weeks of sustained reduction in rainfall in our rainy period, on the back of our six-month reduction, so we can’t romanticise this thing.

An afternoon shower is not going to correct this problem,” Samuda told the Sunday Observer.

On Saturday, National Water Commission (NWC) data showed the water level at Hermitage dam had increased by 5.7 million gallons to now stand at 45 per cent, while Mona Reservoir saw an increase by 10 million gallons, pushing the storage to 35.6 per cent.

Against that reality, Samuda and the NWC are urging Jamaicans to continue conserving water, and the restrictions on use are still in force.

At the September 30, 2026 post-Cabinet press briefing, Samuda said the drought has impacted 106 water systems islandwide, the majority of which are in the east.

“Forty-five of our systems in Kingston and St Andrew…10 in St Catherine and Clarendon, and 42 in the north-east, are indeed experiencing the impacts of severe drought conditions,” Samuda said.

“In the western division, one is in Manchester and St Elizabeth, four in Westmoreland and Hanover, and four in St James and Trelawny,” he added.

Last week the NWC had signalled that if the drought worsens it may be forced to ration piped water on alternate days.

Asked about that on Saturday, Samuda said the inflows from Friday’s rain could result in a delay in that strategy.

“We’re evaluating and should make an announcement next week,” he said, adding that the Meteorological Service has forecast “some rainfall” for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

“So that would ease the pressure,” Samuda said.

On Saturday the Met Service said there is a trough across Jamaica and a tropical wave across the western Caribbean.

The Met Office said that while the trough is expected to remain over the next few days, the tropical wave is forecast to continue moving westward and away from the island.

The office also forecast windy conditions across Jamaica on Sunday as “a low-level jet stream is projected to strengthen across the central Caribbean”.

It also said that Sunday and Monday will be mostly cloudy across northern parishes, with isolated showers across north-eastern parishes.

Otherwise, there will be mainly sunny mornings.

Additionally, the island will experience afternoon showers and isolated thunderstorms across sections of southern parishes and hilly areas elsewhere.

Tuesday will become cloudy in the afternoon, with showers and thunderstorms across sections of central and western parishes.