Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (centre) addresses members of the media at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management yesterday as Ronald Jackson (left), acting head of the agency, and Local Government Minister Dean Peart look on. The press conference was called to disclose the preparations made for the impact of Tropical Storm Ernesto, which is expected to pass over the island today. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Tropical Storm Ernesto veered north yesterday, possibly sparing Jamaica a direct hit but was still likely to pummel the island today with rain and winds that could trigger floods and landslides.
The Jamaican authorities maintained a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch on the island and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller urged people to take the warnings seriously.
The army and police, Simpson Miller said, had been placed on alert to respond to help provide relief and to prevent looting in the event Jamaica takes a serious hit from Enersto. She, however, declined to provide specifics on the mobilisation.
"I don't like to give too much information to the criminals, so I will say no more," Simpson Miller told reporters at a briefing where disaster management officials insisted that emergency systems were in readiness.
Maximum alert
"But rest assured that the security forces are on maximum alert," she said.
Overnight, still 625 miles west-south-west of Jamaica and travelling in a north-westerly direction, 'Ernesto'', the Atlantic hurricane season's fifth named storm, appeared destined to come ashore on Jamaica's south-west coast and cut a diaganol swath across the island, before exiting via the north-eastern shore.
However, at four o'clock yesterday afternoon, the storm having drifted a shade to the north, was 375 miles east-southeast, travelling west-northwest at 13 miles an hour - a path that would have the eye pass just to the north of Jamaica rather than directly over the island. Ernesto had maximum sustained winds of 60 miles an hour, but these, metereolgists said could have reached hurricane strength of 75 miles last night.
"The general motion is expected to continue for the next 24 hours (and ) could bring the centre near the south coast of Hispaniola tonight and near Jamaica on Sunday," said the National Hurri-cance Centre in Florida, the major tracker of Atlantic storms.
Warning
However, the local meteorological service warned that weather conditions would have begun to deteriorate by last night as the storm moved closer to Jamaica and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Manage-ment told coastal residents to identify alternative accommodations.
"Persons living in flood-prone, low-lying and coastal areas are being asked to make arrangements to stay with relatives and friends to to move to the shelter closest to you," ODPEM said in an afternoon statement.
ODPEM's acting boss, Ronald Jackson, at the later press conference with Simpson Miller, said shelters were prepared and ready to accommodate evacuees and that relief supply would be easily accessible.
"These supplies and equipment have been deployed to the most critical areas," Jackson said. "This is to make sure that they can be quickly accessed in the areas that need them the most. All shelter managers have also been alerted and shelters are ready."
While Jamaicans remained concerned about the storm, there was apparently no major run on stores even as the morning sunlight gave way to an overcast gloom and intermittent and thundery showers Ñ conditions which meteorologists said would worsen.
In fact, the storm could dump between four 12 inches of rain on the island today as it passes by Jamaica, they said.
Meanwhile, the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) sent workers out collect garbage from across the island before the rains started.
According to Errol Greene, head of the NSWMA, the agency was out in full force since 4 am yesterday.
He said they would not have stopped working before nightfall to ensure that there be no excessive pile up of garbage in any community in the coming days.
