Tendai Franklyn-Brown, Staff Reporter

Utility companies - the National Water Commission (NWC) and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) - have reported progress in the restoration of services to customers in the wake of Tropical Storm Gustav.

The storm, which coursed over the island on Thursday and Friday causing landslides islandwide, reportedly disrupted up to 70 per cent of the NWC's systems and left 100,000 JPS customers without electricity.

The NWC's corporate relations manager, Charles Buchanan, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that teams had been assembled to work on treatment plants. He said particular attention would be paid to critical locations with the largest infrastructure, namely, the Rio Cobre and Constant Spring systems, which service the Corporate Area and communities further afield.

"Today (Saturday) being the first full day, we are having conditions appropriate to begin restoration activities," Buchanan said. "Our field personnel have been fully mobilised and deployed and are working to put back into operation all the systems that can be immediately operated within the next 36 hours."

In a JPS release yesterday, the company assured customers that efforts were under way to restore the power supply.

The energy supplier says in parishes most affected by the storm - Portland, St Thomas, St Mary and St Catherine - impassable roads have contributed to the slow restoration efforts.

Despite the challenges, the JPS says it has begun work in the parishes of St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, Trelawny, Clarendon, St Mary, St Thomas and St Catherine. The company says its 24-hour emergency operations centre attendants are on hand to respond to emergencies, in addition to any restoration work required.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Office yesterday upgraded Tropical Storm Gustav to a Category Three hurricane as it made its way to Cuba. Residents in that country, as well as the US Gulf State of Louisiana, were evacuated yesterday.