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Winsome Callum, Director of Corporate Communications at the JPS and Kevin Kerr, Acting President of the NWC
By Kimone Witter
The Jamaica Public Service Company says the country should expect outages during the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
Director of Corporate Communications, Winsome Callum, says a decision could be made to turn off the electricity based on the intensity of the storm.
"We recognise that it has strengthened and a decision will be made closer to the time it impacts the island how JPS will deal with whether we return the power off or not. As at now, there is no plan to turn the power off. However, we are advising customers to expect power outages. While the grid is built to withstand a certain level of hurricane intensity, we will always have external conditions that will cause outages," she acknowledged.
Ms. Callum was speaking Tuesday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.
Members of the public are advised to stay away from downed poles and power lines during and after the storm, unplug large or sensitive appliances, in the event that severe weather conditions result in fluctuations in power supply and ensure solar panels and other roof fixtures are securely in place.
Back-up generators should also be operational, gassed and put on settings which prevent a back feed onto the JPS grid – an issue which can be hazardous to JPS crew members.
NWC
In the meantime, the National Water Commission has said it has activated its disaster committee to ensure all emergency measures are implemented.
Acting President of the NWC Kevin Kerr said the agency has put in place additional chemicals that will be needed during the event of Beryl, and will fill all storage tanks in anticipation of turbidity.
"We will also fill all our gasolene storage to ensure that our water trucks, both NWC and private, will have access to fuel in the event of service disruption. We have also ensured that all pumping stations that were out of operations are put back in service to ensure business continuity and service reliability during the period."
Mr. Kerr added that all facilities will continue to be operational up until there is not power supply.
Some critical facilities will have standby capacity to serve areas where hospitals are located.
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