Businesses counting losses from TS Nicole
Published:Sunday | October 3, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dionne Rose, Business Writer
Tropical Storm Nicole has affected the operations of businesses across the island with the sector reporting loss in production days and still counting the monetary losses to business.
Milton Samuda, president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), said the umbrella group was still tabulating the loss to business due to the rains, but indicated there had been no widespread reports of significant damage.
"This is another blow to the business sector," he said.
It follows the civil unrest in May when businesses were said to have lost more than J$600 million from missed sales and property damage in the shopping district in downtown Kingston.
"We, are, however, showing our resilience to get back to business," he added as he pointed out that most operators would have reopened for business on Friday.
Samuda said many of his members lost production days and that storage would have been affected due to the loss of power.
Jean Smith, general manager at the Jamaica Exporters' Association, also reported that the sector had been affected, and said that the Association was in the process of determining the monetary losses.
power disruptions
"Many have reported loss of production time," Smith said. "Some of the factories had power disruptions, but the indications from the Jamaica Public Service Company are that 90 per cent of their customers' power had been restored," she said.
A release from the light and power company on Friday indicated that only three per cent of its customers were still without power supply.
"The company's emergency teams have been working in all parishes since Tuesday, September 28, to restore power supply to customers who were affected by outages caused by the lightning and heavy winds associated with Tropical Storm Nicole," said the JPS in a release.
"The restoration process has been progressing steadily, though the work crews face a number of challenges in some areas due to downed poles, broken conductors, and inaccessibility caused by blocked roads, landslides, waterlogged areas, and badly damaged roadways," the release said.
Smith said some JCC members had reported flooding.
The extent of the disruption to supply chains was still being determined, Smith said, pointing out that producers and service providers often relied on farmers for raw materials such as scallion and peppers.
"People are really just returning to normal," she said. "As it relates to the effects it had on shipment, we are still gathering information," she added.