Cayman Brac Power and Light says it expects to have electricity services restored to 60 per cent of Cayman Brac residents by Thursday – the result of Herculean efforts on the part of the company’s work crews.
Employees, assisted by volunteers – some as young as 12 year old – have been working long hours in an effort to restore electricity and a sense of normality to the island as soon as possible in the wake of Hurricane Paloma.
‘They are working 20 hour days and they have done that from the minute they could get their trucks out after the storm had passed,’ said MLA for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman Moses Kirkconnell.
‘Everybody on the island is extremely proud when they see how fast and how hard the Cayman Brac Power and Light crews are working.’
The monster Category 4 hurricane broke 252 power poles across the Island, almost completely destroying the electricity distribution system, when it slammed into the Brac in the early hours of 8 November.
Mr. Kirkconnell said power has now been restored along much of the main line that runs along the island’s north side, from the Gerrard Smith International Airport to Watering Place.
A number of critical infrastructure facilities are also back online with electricity, including Faith Hospital, the District Administration Building, the Water Authority Office and, by Monday morning, the airport.
CBP&L crews are now going from house to house along side roads on the Island’s north side, reconnecting residences and businesses that have had the electrical wiring approved by the Building Control Unit.
Mr. Kirkconnell said many of the CBP&L employees ‘have put their personal life on hold for the community’ – overlooking repairs to their own houses to rebuild electricity infrastructure.
The hard work ethic extends from the top to the bottom of the company, Mr. Kirkconnell noted, with Managing Director Jonathon Tibbetts, Head of Lines and Distribution Henry Scott, Chief Engineer Royce Dilbert, and linesmen Cary Christian and Ryan Scott among the employees putting in long hours up and down the island’s roadsides.
Generators
Those still waiting for electricity to return were bolstered Friday by the arrival of a Government chartered DHL cargo plane that brought with it a further 160 generators and 200 fuel jerry cans. Mr. Kirkconnell estimated that over 500 generators have now made it to the island in the wake of the storm, providing temporary respite while residents wait for the electricity supply to be restored.
While demand for them remains high, it is expected to ease by the end of the week as a majority of residents are returned to electricity, he said.
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