The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has blamed power outages in Westmoreland over the weekend, on a "severe lightning storm on Friday and a motor vehicle accident on Saturday".

The light and power company, in a statement, issued yesterday, said on Friday afternoon, a lightning strike on JPS' Paradise substation resulted in the loss of power to most of the parish. It said power was restored within a few hours, but the electricity supply was again disrupted on Saturday evening, when a motor vehicle accident on the Farm main road damaged a utility pole and dislodged power lines.

Despite the repairs carried out on the weekend, JPS technical teams were yesterday still carrying out more extensive repair work to ensure that the system is back to normal as soon as possible.