Over 51,000 Jamaicans without power so far due to Melissa

More than 51,000 Jamaicans are without electricity currently as conditions worsen ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Melissa.

This was disclosed by Energy Minister Daryl Vaz at a special hurricane briefing on Monday.

Vaz said that as of 9 a.m. more than 51,000 JPS customers were without electricity, with over 33,000 -- or 65 per cent -- in western Jamaica.

Vaz said most of the outages were caused by trees falling on power lines.

He said he had "terse words" with the power provider Jamaica Public Service (JPS) over loss of electricity in parts of Kingston and St Andrew, where there has not been "any level of rain or wind".

He argued that a 12-hour response time is "unacceptable".

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