JPS says Friday's squall line impacted power to about 10,000 customers

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says Friday night's squall line which went across the island impacted some aspects of the electricity network, affecting about 10,000 customers.  

The squall line, comprised of a group of storms arranged in a line, producing short periods of high wind and rain, went from the east of the island to western parishes on Friday night.

JPS said in a media release on Sunday that its teams responded almost immediately to address outages in some parishes and the work to restore affected customers continued on Saturday.

“According to our information, squall lines, which can be quite destructive, did affect some of our infrastructure. While we don't have a complete picture of the extent of the damage incurred, we are aware that approximately 10,000 customers were affected - located in sections of the parishes of Kingston & St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon, St Ann and St Elizabeth," said JPS' Senior Vice President of Energy Delivery, Blaine Jarrett. 

He noted that up to Saturday night the company had successfully restored about half of this number, and is continuing to restore the remainder of customers, as well as those affected by Hurricane Beryl.  

"It can be terribly frustrating, for each of our customers who are without supply, but rest assured - restoring your service is our top priority.  We are most certainly pulling out all the stops to get electricity back to you.  You can count on that," he stated.

In the meantime, the JPS said some customers may experience delays in response time, due to the much higher than usual volume of calls and queries. 

"The company assures however, that its teams are working tirelessly to address the various issues, even as it appeals for patience," it said.

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