Ocho Rios back on power grid

For almost a week, the constant hum of power generators filled Ocho Rios, St Ann, as businesses and residents had to operate without electricity from the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) following the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

But, before dawn on Tuesday morning, sections of the resort town began springing back to life as restoration crews energised the power lines once again. A number of surrounding districts also saw their power being restored even before Ocho Rios proper.

Residents complained vehemently to The Gleaner during the power outage, many saying that, even without knowledge of the progress of restoration, they did not believe the JPS was doing enough to restore power to the seaside town. They argued that the damage to the area was not as great as anticipated ahead of the Category 4 hurricane, so power could have been restored earlier.

The most telling impact, they complained, was the searing heat, especially at night, as they were left without power for their cooling appliances.

“Mi wake up before day Saturday and mi swear mi did [urinate on] the bed! Is mi girlfriend haffi seh, ‘No man, a sweat yuh sweat!’ fi convince mi seh a nuh dat,” said one resident of Buckfield in Ocho Rios.

DISCONTENT

The shutdown of telephone service was also a major source of discontent as many persons were unable to use their phones for five days since last week Thursday.

St Ann Disaster Coordinator Alvin Clarke’s initial report noted that there were “a lot of fallen trees, some roads are blocked, JPS lines are down”.

He said several roads, including the St Ann’s Bay to Lime Hall road, were blocked.

And, after driving through St Ann’s Bay and Brown’s Town shortly after the hurricane, St Ann Chamber of Commerce President Dr Ransford Davidson told The Gleaner: “I think we really are a blessed nation. So far, I’ve not seen any significant damage of businesses. It seems like the damage is purely minor at this point, so I think big businesses should not be significantly affected.”

And Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association executive Vana Taylor said: “I think overall we all did very well, thank God. The major thing I would like to see now is the restoration of electricity, because a lot of the smaller players don’t have generators, and even [some of] the large players don’t have it. It’s a problem to keep running your property on generators.”

However, there was some amount of damage to businesses, especially along the coastline.

The newly opened Poko Loko Floating Bar took a hammering, the hurricane sweeping the bar from its Mahogany Beach base, where it was moored, and leaving it several hundred metres away at Little Dunn’s River.

The solar-powered structure had its raft with the panels blown down but still connected to the main structure.

The attraction was launched on June 15 and got commendations from Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and players in the tourism sector.

The operators have been unavailable for comment since The Gleaner reached out to them last week Thursday.

carl.gilchrist@gleanerjm.com