Adverse weather leaves businesses with skeleton staff in Westmoreland
Published:Saturday | November 18, 2023 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
ADVERSE WEATHER, which has crippled operations across the island over the last two days, left skeleton staff to manage business operations in Westmoreland on Friday as owners took precautionary measures.
While Westmoreland was not as badly affected as parishes at the eastern end of the island, the threatening potential tropical cyclone forced an early closure of some businesses on Thursday and prevented others from opening on Friday.
“They would have lost out on business [on Thursday] because customer flow would have been much less,” said Moses Chybar, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Today (Friday), those who have been able to open have done so with a skeleton staff, and the traffic is very slow; not many people are coming out in the rain. The weather has had a big negative impact on the business community,” he said.
Unable to leave their homes
According to the Westmoreland business leader, many staffers had been experiencing difficulties with transportation on Thursday and some were unable to leave their homes due to flooded streets in their communities.
“Now it’s a matter of ensuring that people stay safe, protect businesses, and protect homes because weather like this with a lot of rain could result in flooding,” Chybar added.
The Meteorological Service on Thursday issued a flash flood warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of southern and eastern parishes, including Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, St Catherine, Kingston, St Andrew, St Thomas, Portland and St Mary.
The warning remained in place yesterday although at 2 p.m., it discontinued a tropical storm watch which went into effect on Thursday.
Ian Myles, deputy mayor Savanna-la-Mar, said all shelter managers were activated to receive anyone who may need to be relocate.
“We have not seen any rain in the morning on Friday; we have not had any major announcements in terms of flooding or severe damage to any of the infrastructure, but people are on high alert and if necessary they are ready to accommodate them,” he told The Gleaner.
Paul Maitland, president of the Westmoreland Taxi Association, said fewer people came out Friday as a result of the weather.
“While some businesses closed early, this did not affect the public passenger sector as our members prepared themselves after monitoring the weather bulletin in the media,” Maitland said.
Meanwhile, farmers in Flagaman, St Elizabeth, who supply several parts of the country with food, say they won’t be able to give an account of any damage by the rains to their crop until about Monday.
St Elizabeth has been getting its fair share of the rain. However, there has not been any report of flooding in the parish.