Mayor says P'more is in final stage of hurricane preparation

Mayor of Portmore Keith Hinds said that Portmore is in its final stages of preparation for the hurricane season, which began on Monday, June 1.

"We have cleaned some drains, and I would wish to publicly thank the people from the CHASE fund for the $5.6-million donation to clean drains, " Mayor Hinds said.

The mayor said that the major drains will be cleaned during the month of June. As for the the critical 2 East drain in Greater Portmore, Mayor Hinds said that the National Works Agency (NWA) should clean that drain. The cost of cleaning that drain is in excess of $20 million.

Mayor Hinds said that the emergency response team, which is based at the Emergency Centre at the Portmore Municipal council, is in its final stages of preparation. "Philipa Edmond, disaster coordinator, and her team has put most things in place ... once there is a disaster, then we will be manning our emergency centre 24-hours," Mayor Hinds said.

anticipates more supplies

He added that there is some relief supplies in stock but still anticipates more supplies from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and and Emergency Management (ODPEM). "We are expecting ODPEM to give us supplies as they did last year, and wish to thank Ronald Jackson for their assistance," Mayor Hinds said.

Portmore, he said is vulnerable to hurricanes and possible evacuations will take place if the need arises. "Once there is flooding, we urge people living in the affected areas to comply to the evacuation process, we will be working in collaboration with the Jamaica Urban Transit Company to evacuate persons to shelters in Portmore, or move them to a safe place, possibly the National Arena in Kingston," he said.

California State University in the US has predicted 11 named storms, five becoming hurricanes and two becoming major hurricanes (category three and over on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

The hurricane season starts on June 1 and ends November 30.