Key infrastructure extensively damaged by Hurricane Melissa, will take awhile to restore full power - JPS

The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) says key infrastructure across its power delivery network has been extensively damaged by Hurricane Melissa and that it will take a while to rebuild and restore power to all customers.

JPS President and CEO, Hugh Grant, who participated in an aerial tour, said several high-voltage transmission facilities, including towers made of steel, were destroyed by the extreme hurricane-force winds that swept across sections of Jamaica.

“Although it is too early to grasp the full extent of the damage, from what we have seen so far, it will take," Grant said in a statement on Thursday.

While carrying out damage assessment, JPS said its teams are using the opportunity to do repairs in areas with less extensive damage and get power back to customers where it is safe to do so.

More than 50,000 customers across Kingston & St Andrew, St Thomas, and St Catherine have so far been restored.

Despite the restoration, more than 400,000 JPS customers remain without electricity,

Grant warned that while power has been restored to some areas, the high-voltage transmission backbone of JPS' system, which traverses some of the most severely damaged areas, remains compromised.

“We are partnering with the Jamaica Defence Force to continue helicopter patrols of those facilities in order to have a better understanding of the scope of repairs that are required to restore those facilities and stabilize the grid,” he said.

“We understand the inconvenience being experienced by our customers who are without power. The one thing we know is that this will be a rebuild of significant portions of our infrastructure, and not just a restoration in order to get the power back on. But rest assured, our teams are working non-stop twenty-four sevens to get the lights back on, while we are taking steps to get even more overseas line workers to assist,” said Grant.

As work continues, the light and power company is reminding members of the public to take extreme care to ensure their safety and that of their families.

The company is also appealing to the public to stay away from downed power lines.

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