JPS struggles to restore power to parishes most affected by hurricane

DESPITE RESTORING power to approximately 90 per cent of its customers, the Jamaica Public Service Company yesterday said it was still having challenges with areas that were damaged the hardest during passage of Hurricane Sandy.

According to Winsome Callum, communications manager at JPS, the parishes of St Mary, St Thomas and Portland are experiencing the slowest restoration.

"Most of JPS customers who remain without power are in these parishes due to the extensive damage to the environment and the JPS infrastructure. In some communities, work is hampered by blocked roads as a result of landslides and uprooted areas," she said.

According to Callum, St Mary has approximately 18,000 customers without electricity, which is as a result of broken poles.

"The teams so far have identified over 100 broken poles in the parish and is in the process of changing them," she said.

extensive damage

Callum also pointed out that sections of Portland were mostly affected due to extensive damage to the transmission lines. She said, however, that up to Saturday evening, there were some results and power was restored to 10 per cent of its customers. Almost 13,800 of the customers are still without service.

In St Thomas, JPS has been able to restore service to about 57 per cent of its customers. Callum noted, however, that despite the best efforts of the company's restoration teams, about 8,200 customers in the parish remain without power, primarily due to access challenges.