Mixed reactions to storm's approach

Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter

THERE were mixed reactions yesterday in the Corporate Area to a warning about Tropical Storm Chantal which at one point strengthened to become a hurricane threatening to graze Jamaica.

In most cases it was business as usual. Some vendors came out to hawk "back-to-school" wares; stores opened and people milled around, doing regular shopping or visiting fast-food places. In addition, students from the AZ Preston hall of residence at the University of the West Indies were busy seeking donations in Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew. Cars lined both sides of a roadway near to Tools, Hardware and Supplies on South Camp Road, and manager Elva Mullings said most people were there to do their regular business.

The reasons behind their action were varied. Some said they were hearing about the storm for the first time or that they did not have the money to make the preparations. Others did not have the time because of work-related pressures, like Keith Samuda, they were not going to make preparations because they were convinced that the storm would not affect the island.

"I listen to the radio keenly and..it doesn't look to be anything serious so I'm taking it lightly. Nothing is going on. First time, when you get a warning on a storm, you get a lot of advertisement from the radio, I hardly hear anything over the radio. I'm not taking it serious," he said.

But elsewhere, supermarkets, wholesales, hardware stores, gas stations and other vendors did big business as large numbers of consumers flocked to these establishments to stock up on supplies to secure themselves from the heavy rain and winds expected from Tropical Storm Chantal.

Some persons said they were not sure if the storm was coming but had to make preparations - just in case. "I bought a lamp shade and lamp burner and every little thing you need fi hold you if it catch you. Remember Gilbert, we never did prepare and it come so it better fi prepare and it don't come than it come and we no prepare," said security guard, Dorothy James, whose hands were filled with plastic bags from the wholesale establishments downtown, Kingston.

From downtown to Red Hills Road, St. Andrew, consumers were seen manoeuvring trolleys and balancing black plastic bags filled with goods such as bread and crackers and tins of corned beef, sardines, mackerel and tuna.

Bottled water and other drinks, lamps, kerosene, candles, nails, ply wood and other hardware supplies also left the shelves as soon as they were stocked there.

Trolleys created a traffic jam in the Super Plus food store in Liguanea, Kingston. At the Empire Supermarket, Wholesale and Retail, Cross Roads, officials reported a five to 10 per cent increase in customers while Patrick Lee, general manager of Lee's Food Fair, Red Hills Road, said that its regular customers purchased 20 per cent more food stuff.

Other consumers told The Sunday Gleaner that they had filled huge containers with petrol and stocked up on cooking gas. Still, more visited nearby gas stations.