NWA Activates Emergency Response Teams

As the island braces for the effects of Hurricane Gustav, the National Works Agency (NWA), has activated its Emergency Response Teams.
The NWA Communications and Customer Services Manager, Stephen Shaw, told JIS News, that all key contractors in the NWA’s emergency response effort have been placed on call.
Mr. Shaw said that NWA equipment would be pre-positioned in key areas, in order to minimise response time, in the event that the island is significantly impacted by the hurricane.
Equipment will be placed along the Junction Road in St. Mary and at Roselle in St. Thomas. “These corridors are critical to the movement of goods and persons between several communities in these parishes and Kingston,” he noted. Other parish personnel who will be integral in restoration efforts, have also been placed on call.
Mr. Shaw said that in order to guard against major infrastructural damage, the NWA has spent over $100 million on drain cleaning and other mitigation activities throughout the island, over the past three months.
He informed JIS News that the technical teams are now cleaning drains that might be blocked, as a result of recent rains, to mitigate the effects of possible flooding. He said that the agency is now focussing on re-opening several of these drains in the parishes of St. James and Clarendon.