A traffic accident early yesterday morning left several communities in Manchester and St Elizabeth without electricity.

Reports are that at approximately 4 a.m. yesterday, a motor vehicle ran into a utility pole in the community of Kingsland in Manchester, causing the pole to break. This brought down a number of powerlines, resulting in outages in several communities. The affected areas include Greenvale, Hatfield, Kingsland, Huntley, Lincoln, French Park and surrounding areas in Manchester. While, in St Elizabeth, the affected areas are Gutters, Bull Savannah, Comma Pen, Rose Hall, Red Bank, Goshen, Gutters, Junction, Alligator Pond and surrounding areas in St Elizabeth.

power restored

Service has already been restored to some customers, and the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has advised, in a release, that it is making every effort to restore service to the other affected areas as soon as possible.

The release also addressed the ongoing power problems being faced by residents of some communities in northern Manchester. The release advised that the company's efforts to address the power outages are being hampered by illegal connections.

transformers damaged

Problems developed late last week when there was damage to a number of transformers in the Othersfield area. The transformers were replaced by JPS but one of the new transformers was subsequently damaged as a result of the overload caused by the illegal lines.

The JPS said it will continue its efforts to remove the illegal lines, and is working to address the problems and restore normal supply to the affected communities which include: John Rock, Bethany, Devon, Robins Hall, Harry Watch, Halifax, and surrounding areas.