Flow to Conduct Damage Assessment 36 to 48 Hours After Hurricane

Telecommunications company Flow Jamaica, will conduct preliminary damage assessment between 36 and 48 hours following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Vice President and General Manager, Stephen Price, said technical teams are strategically positioned right across the island and they will go out into the field once the  Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) gives the all-clear.

He noted that over 30 technicians from Panama have been engaged to assist the local team.

Mr. Price informed that 61 per cent of Flow sites are currently equipped with solar generators  to sustain operations in case of outages.

“We do have the majority of our sites actually covered and ready. Unfortunately, during the pre-storm assessment and during the past week, we found that 10 of our generators with about 1300 gallons of fuel were stolen,” he lamented.

He urged members of the public to look-out for persons trying to steal fuel from Flow sites.

“I ask the public to be our eyes and ears out there. If you see anybody doing anything untoward near any of our sites, just report it to the police,” he said.

Mr. Price reiterated the company’s commitment to keeping the public informed.

“We will be transparent and open to let you know what’s happening and we will communicate at all times. What we’ll also say is that we understand the importance that connectivity plays in our lives. It is not lost on us and we’ve made significant investments in infrastructure, trained our teams, built strong partnerships, and we are ready to respond,” he said.

Meanwhile, Flow’s emergency operations centre is fully functional and the company continues to work closely with national organisations.

“We have provided sims, credit and handset support to emergency response teams and our emergency lines are open 24/7 at our emergency response centre. The numbers are 876-929-9834/876-929-9837,” he said.