Caribbean power faces long recovery from Beryl

Power utilities in several eastern and central Caribbean countries have started repairing networks that were brought down this week by Hurricane Beryl.

Beryl — the Atlantic's first hurricane this season — hit several islands with winds of up to 225 km (140 miles)/h, and also damaged roads, bridges and ports and telecommunications infrastructure.

Many parts of Jamaica, Grenada and St Lucia remain without power, with one utility company forecasting "a long and difficult period of continuing darkness" in these countries.

Jamaican power utility JPS said yesterday 60pc of its clients — just under a half a million households — were without electricity.

"Our teams are doing damage assessment, and will complete the necessary repairs to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible," the company said.

Beryl entered the Caribbean earlier in the week, leaving extensive damage in St Vincent and the Grenadines and in Dominica.

St Vincent and the Grenadines will be without power for the next fortnight, chief executive of its power utility Vinlec Vaughn Lewis said.

"We have significant damage … and we will be working to get power to facilities such as gas stations and supermarkets."

Granada's ward island Cariacou is in an "Armageddon-like condition," prime minister Dickon Mitchell said. "The electricity and communication systems are wiped out."

Winds from Beryl hit the southern coast of the Dominican Republic on 3 July, causing blackouts from a deficit of 900MW, according to distributor Edesur.

Winds affected major natural gas-fired power plant AES Andres, reducing its regasification capacity for LNG and its fuel supplies to other natural gas plants, the government said.

Beryl left several thousand people without power in the Cayman Islands yesterday as it left Jamaica and headed for Mexico.

The Caribbean is likely to be hit by more strong hurricanes by the end of the season in November, a spokesman for Jamaica's weather office told Argus. "We have been promised a very active season with many and strong storms."

The US federal weather agency NOAA forecast that there is an 85pc chance that this year's Atlantic hurricane season will be "above normal."

The Atlantic season's first hurricane "sets an alarming precedent for what is expected to be a very active hurricane season," the World Meteorological Organization said.

By Canute James