This week, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in the Caribbean region, bringing winds of 140 to 160 mph, and becoming the first hurricane on record to reach category 5 so early in the Atlantic. In Jamaica, and the Eastern Caribbean, entire communities have been flooded, houses destroyed, livelihoods wiped out, and the full scale of this event is not yet known....

The Government of Jamaica expresses its deepest condolences to the families of Alrick Moncrieffe and Kayon Sterling who died as a result of the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families during this difficult time. Hurricane Beryl has brought significant hardship to our nation, and any loss of life is a profound tragedy. On behalf...

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) says the use of the Disaster Emergency Communications System was critical for sharing information throughout the passage of Hurricane Beryl. The system provides a single platform for disaster management entities to communicate, which allows emergency responders access to a single space to receive updates on incidents islandwide, so they can formulate...

The National Emergency Operations Centre’s (NEOC) activities have been scaled down from Level Three to One, following the passage of Hurricane Beryl. This was announced by Acting Director General, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, during a debriefing at the Centre, based at ODPEM’s head office in Kingston, on Thursday (July 4). ODPEM’s headquarters becomes the...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says most Jamaicans acted responsibly during the passage of Hurricane Beryl and took preemptive measures to protect themselves and their property. He made the remarks during an interview with BBC News on Thursday (July 4) while providing an update on the effects of the category four hurricane which impacted Jamaica on July 3....

The Sangster International Airport (SIA) in Montego Bay was scheduled to reopen on Thursday (July 4) at 6:00 p.m., while the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston is expected to reopen on Friday (July 5) at 5:00 a.m. This, following their closure due to the passage of Hurricane Beryl on Wednesday (July 3). An Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ)...

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) is encouraging livestock owners to take pictures of their losses and submit them to the entity to facilitate damage assessments. Senior RADA Livestock Officer, Maxine Brown, says farmers should not bury their animals without first carefully documenting losses. “Sometimes they bury the animals very quickly and then there’s no evidence to say that, yes,...