Approximately 240,000 JPS customers without power

Approximately 240,000 Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) customers are now without light as a result of the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

JPS says St Elizabeth, Manchester, Hanover and St James are the worse affected parishes.

It says approximately 75% of customers in these parishes are without power due to the impact of the hurricane.

The light and power company says that there has been an increase in outages across several parishes, noting that several generation units, critical high voltage substations, transmission and distribution lines across the island have been forced out of service by hurricane force winds and lightning.

JPS is further reporting that St Thomas, Kingston & St Andrew, St Catherine and St Ann are among the least impacted parishes as at this time, with less than 10% of customers impacted in each of these parishes.

JPS President and CEO Hugh Grant says the company continues to respond and work around the clock to restore our customers in a safe and timely manner.

He added that there are no plans to shut down the system at this time.

"We encourage our customers to avoid being distracted by fake news, and stay tuned to official JPS channels for further updates."

JPS is reminding customers to stay safe and take precautions to protect life and property, as the system has not yet passed the island.

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