I have to admit to shedding a tear or two this morning, looking at the devastation. Just the Reuters’ camera overlooking some well-built properties in an area that didn’t suffer from too much flooding is shocking. People wandering around trying to make sense of it all. It’s heartbreaking on a level someone from the UK can struggle to comprehend.
The videos and pictures are starting to come in from areas where there has obviously been a massive loss of life and property and if that wasn’t bad enough the Government have had to warn of the risks of displaced crocodiles. Just horrendous. My thoughts are with anyone who has been affected by this tragedy.
Mum’s reached my sister. Very minimal damage to the home, few bits of displaced zinc. Bushy Park district of May Pen hasn’t had any flooding yet (Still thunderstorms). Water levels very high in the Rio Minho River.
Mum was already planning to ship barrels down before Christmas, planning of trying to double the amount now.
Early reports suggest the South West of Jamaica experienced the worst of the damage. As expected flooding is rampant. Most notably the parish of St. Elizabeth. Especially in Black River and Santa Cruz. With many places underwater and completely cut off. St. James another parish dealing with really bad flooding.
Due the mountainous terrain, there’s also been damage from the development of landslides.
Estimated 500,000 people (as of now according to JPS) completely without electricity, mainly destroyed infrastructure. Andrew Holness has declared the country a disaster zone.
Didn’t know you had people in Bushy Park. Used to spend quite a bit of time up there.
Similar story in Kingston with the lack of power being the major disruption caused.
Infrastructural and agricultural damage seems to be far more critical than the amount of casualties and deaths fortunately. However, the damage is severe.
The storm is headed the way of Cuba now, so hopefully they do not suffer too much.
Damage estimated to be around $6-7billion USD which is around about 30% of it’s GDP.
Death toll as of now is 32. There’s been difficulty in reaching the damaged parts of the country due to blocked roads, flooding and the likes.
Agriculture, the bedrock of the country (Alongside Tourism) took a massive hit. Crops in ruins and livestock will need time to replenish.
Government have announced further measures, such as the suspension of GCT (Jamaica’s version of VAT) on various imported products. This is good, but only lasts until 28 November. Hopefully they extend this. Mum already ordered barrels to ship down but it takes around 2-4 weeks to arrive and longer to clear. Not to mention some people need time to amass the funds to ship barrels down.
Another order is prohibiting price gouging on essential goods during the recovery effort. Retailers, as of for now. Are forbidden from profiting from disaster. (To be fair most Jamaican retailers have shown their support for this measure).
Work has been made on restoring water and energy. Some parishes obviously doing better than others due to the Hurricane. Government’s been putting the pressure on JPS and NWC to speed up the restoration process.
Busy week or two for me as Mum wants to try get these barrels out.
Snow appearing at the outer edges (9-11 days) of the UK’s forecast too.
While it’s a long enough away to still be treated with caution the models are being surprisingly consistent at delivering our first plunge of arctic air from next weekend.
Nice. Cold and sunny generally sums up our winters here.
Alberta is the sunniest province in Canada
. This is due to its high elevation and dry climate, which reduce cloud cover. Southern Alberta, in particular, is very sunny, with cities like Medicine Hat and Lethbridge receiving hundreds of sunny days per year.
Why Alberta is sunny:
The Rocky Mountains to the west block many cloudy weather systems from reaching the province.
