At least 50,000 JPS customers lose power during strong winds

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is reporting that approximately 50,000 or about seven per cent of its customers have so far been affected by outages caused by a squall line that affected the island on Monday afternoon.

The weather event brought unusually strong winds, which the JPS says caused sporadic outages in several communities across Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon and Manchester.

It says its Incident Command Centre has been activated to manage the situation and facilitate a safe and swift restoration response.

“The Incident Command Centre allows us to coordinate our response efforts, prioritise the most affected areas, and mobilise the necessary crews and equipment to get the job done,” explains JPS’ Senior VP Energy Delivery, Blaine Jarrett.

“Our emergency response teams are already carrying out restoration where it is safe to do so,” he says.

Jarrett says more than 50 per cent of the customers initially affected have already been restored.

However, he adds that "as the system continues to move across the island, more customers may lose supply. Our teams will continue to work to restore service as safely and as quickly as possible,” he explained.

JPS is urging members of the public to exercise caution, especially around fallen wires, and to report outages or hazards using the JPS mobile app, website, or Customer Care Centre at 888-CALL-JPS (888-225-5577).

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