OFFICE OF DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT – NEWS RELEASE 13 & 14

Hurricane Wilma developed into a dangerous Category 5 hurricane overnight, with the lowest-recorded barometric pressure of any Atlantic basin hurricane.
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has been advised by the Meteorological Service that a Flash Flood Warning remains in effect as Hurricane Wilma strengthens.
As a result of the inclement weather situation being experienced to date, some 83 communities in Jamaica have been impacted up from 53 communities previously recorded. As a result, a total of 15 shelters are now open across the island housing approximately 378 persons.
Search and Rescue Operations were carried out in 6 communities namely Cedar Avenue and Cedar Drive in Nightingale Grove, Watermount, Big Pond, Bushy Park and Hartlands in St. Catherine and Clarendon Park in Clarendon.
The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) as well as all Parish Disaster Operations Centres (PEOC) remain activated. Teams will be dispatched to carry out Rapid Damage Assessments as soon as the weather conditions improve.