Overcast but otherwise calm weather in St James on Friday
Published:Saturday | November 18, 2023 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
St James was mostly overcast but otherwise calm on Friday, with stakeholders adopting a wait-and-see approach while being prepared to act in case of any emergency as an unstable weather system affected the island.
Montego Bay Mayor Leeroy Williams told The Gleaner that despite rainfall in sections of St James Southern on Thursday night and all of the parish’s shelter managers being on alert, there have been no reports of major disasters.
“ ... We have not activated our emergency operations centre because the weather conditions have not affected us severely. However, we have placed our shelter managers on alert, just in case anything like flooding or any serious damage happens and persons have to go into the shelter,” said Williams.
“In Montego Bay, we had some rain last night (Thursday), actually light rainfall. The area that would be most affected would be St James Southern because they were closer to the system, so I understand from persons who live in the area that they had rain all night [Thursday] night; and this morning, they had light rainfall,” Williams added.
“So far, I have not had any report of any land slippage, blocked drains, flooding, or anything like that.”
Oral Heaven, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the worst that business operators have reported so far have been cancellations and postponements of various planned activities due to the threat of the weather system, including postponement of a crime forum his organisation had planned for Friday morning.
“It’s just cancelling of events, but no significant impact on businesses so far; people are just watching it. The supermarkets are benefiting because people are doing more than the usual shopping, and the shoppers are out because the schools are out, so the traffic is not so heavy on the road. As far as our members are concerned, what we are seeing so far is cancellations and having to cancel events,,” said Heaven.
“The food places will be open, and we’ll watch what happens later on because it should intensify on this side later today,” Heaven added. “I am not hearing of any serious impact, though, as we don’t have the rain like on the other side of Jamaica, like what we see on the news; we don’t have the flooding and all that.”
Meanwhile, Dr Delroy Fray, clinical coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority, told The Gleaner that similar precautionary measures are being taken at the region’s hospitals, Cornwall Regional Hospital, to include sending home patients who can be safely discharged.