Trinis living in Jamaica got a couple more hours to prepare for Hurricane Matthew yesterday, as the category four storm slowed its pace and changed its catastrophic strike towards Haiti on Monday night into Tuesday.
Retired teacher Annette Rampair, a Trinidadian who has been living in Kingston, Jamaica, for the past 40 years, said up to 3 pm there were no strong winds in the capital city and Jamaica officials were continuing to plead with people from the eastern coasts to evacuate their homes.
“The Met Office has been updating us very frequently and we are expecting the worst to come in later,” Rampair said.
She said the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management has been working with the Jamaican Public Service Company and the Water Commission to assist in evacuation.
“The supermarkets are packed and people are still purchasing tinned food and bottled water. We have a problem in the fishing villages at Pedro Quays where people don’t want to evacuate their homes because they are afraid of looting,” Rampair said.
“Government is begging them to leave. About 900 schools and churches have been set up as shelters. People who live along the gulley banks have also been evacuated,” Rampair added.
She said the Jamaican authorities have been preparing for Matthew since last week Tuesday.
“People on the mountainside have been alerted to get a shelter. They have arranged buses to take them to the Stadium and the Arena at Kingston. The homeless are being picked up and put in shelters but some of them don’t want to go because they like to be on the streets. Police have doubled up with the army to prevent looting,” Rampair added.
Asked whether she was worried about the impending storm, Rampair said she was more concerned that after the devastation of the hurricane, the Jamaican economy would suffer.
Meanwhile, chemistry lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Debbie Ann Gordon Smith, said the campus was closed since Saturday until further notice.
“We had classes up until Saturday but from Friday the administration asked us to secure all electronics and items in case of any leaks. They put up shutters,” she added.
Gordon-Smith also said the eastern mountainous part of Jamaica will be worst hit.
“I was worried when the hurricane became a category five. I think we are prepared but I am concerned for the people of Haiti,” Gordon-Smith added.
Up to press time, the Associated Press reported two deaths in Haiti, bringing the total for the storm to at least four.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Matthew had sustained winds of 140 mph as it moved north, up from 130 mph earlier in the day. The eye of the hurricane was expected to pass just east of Jamaica and near or over the southwestern tip of Haiti early Tuesday before heading to eastern Cuba.