标签： Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s national weather agency has activated a flash flood watch for multiple low-lying and flood-vulnerable regions across the island, with the alert in effect immediately until 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.

The areas covered by the watch include the parishes of Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, St Catherine, St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew, according to an official announcement shared by the Meteorological Service of Jamaica in a press statement circulated on Monday.

Meteorologists attribute the impending severe weather to a dynamic tropical wave currently traversing the island, which is interacting with an upper-level atmospheric trough. This combination of weather systems is projected to sustain highly unstable atmospheric conditions across Jamaica through late Wednesday afternoon, forecasters confirmed.

“Over the coming days, the island will see repeated intervals of showers and thunderstorms, many of which will bring heavy downpours at peak intensity, with southern parishes facing the most persistent impacts through the duration of the alert,” the statement read. “Beyond heavy rainfall, strong gusty winds are also anticipated, particularly along southern coastal zones and in offshore waters off the island’s south coast.”

The weather service has issued a urgent advisory to commercial fishers and all other marine operators, especially those working along Jamaica’s southern shoreline, to practice extreme caution throughout the event. Sea conditions are expected to rapidly deteriorate in areas impacted by showers, thunderstorms and high gusts, creating significant navigation hazards.

For residents living in at-risk zones, officials emphasize that a flash flood watch indicates flash flooding is a plausible outcome, not a certainty. Communities have been instructed to implement early precautionary measures, stay updated on evolving conditions via subsequent official releases from the Meteorological Service, and remain prepared to evacuate or take emergency action quickly if flooding develops or a higher-level flash flood warning is issued.

The Meteorological Service of Jamaica noted it will maintain continuous monitoring of the interacting weather systems and issue updates as conditions change to support public safety.

Against the backdrop of an incoming Atlantic hurricane season, a senior Jamaican faith leader has amplified a pressing demand for the national government to extend formal state funding to faith-based social outreach initiatives and formally integrate churches into the country’s national disaster response infrastructure.

Pastor Dr Donville Bell, chairman of the Word Power Ministry Board, laid out this call to action during the 18th annual Word Power Conference, hosted Saturday in St Catherine, where he highlighted the underrecognized, frontline role faith institutions have long played during national crises across the island.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially launched on June 1, and forecasters have already projected that 2024 could bring another above-average, highly active season of storm activity. Bell stressed that despite a long track record of churches stepping in as critical first responders when disaster strikes, these trusted community institutions are routinely sidelined when emergency resources and formal planning are distributed.

“Long before displaced or crisis-stricken families can reach a government service agency, the local church is their first point of contact,” Bell told conference attendees. “In moments of chaos and uncertainty, people turn to the faces and institutions they know and trust. For the vast majority of Jamaican communities, that trusted anchor is the church.”

Bell pointed to the widespread devastation left by Hurricane Melissa as a clear case study of the irreplaceable work churches carry out. When entire communities were reeling from the storm’s destructive impact, faith institutions across affected regions opened their facilities as emergency shelters, distributed food and essential care packages, served thousands of hot meals, and provided much-needed emotional and spiritual counseling for families grappling with trauma and the loss of homes and property.

“When Hurricane Melissa displaced hundreds of residents, the church acted without hesitation,” Bell recalled. “We formed informal partnerships with state agencies and local community groups to meet overwhelming need, but all too often, churches are expected to deliver this life-saving compassionate work without the sustained financial support or core resources required to scale these efforts.”

Beyond disaster response, Bell noted that faith-based organizations have been competent, long-standing partners to the state in addressing a wide range of persistent social challenges, from deep-rooted poverty and community violence to youth delinquency, family breakdown, and ongoing social support. Yet despite the consistent government reliance on churches to deliver frontline community services, these institutions are frequently locked out of formal state funding streams and national disaster preparedness frameworks.

“The government regularly calls on churches to back national social initiatives and community programs, but many congregations are expected to do this work with extremely limited resources, and in some cases no public funding at all,” Bell explained. “While we are deeply honored to serve our neighbors, even the most devout among us know it takes resources to provide consistent care. This work has grown even more difficult in recent months, as churches face spiking utility costs at the same time they are supporting local families grappling with steep cost-of-living increases. We have to end the unfair practice that directs the vast majority of social assistance funding to other local development partners, and instead ensure faith institutions have the adequate resources they need to keep serving on the front lines of community care.”

Bell is calling on Jamaican policymakers to move quickly to formally add faith-based organizations to the country’s official hurricane preparedness and disaster management frameworks, ahead of what could be a damaging storm season.

“We currently collaborate ad hoc with Municipal Corporations and the Social Development Commission when disaster strikes, but we need a formal seat at the table every time the country plans for natural hazards like hurricanes,” Bell said. “Integrating faith institutions into preparedness planning from the earliest stages will strengthen overall community resilience, improve emergency response outcomes, and reinforce social support systems in vulnerable neighborhoods year-round. It’s time to turn this long-overdue change into action now.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica — A fatal police shooting of a 30-year-old local man last Tuesday has ignited widespread anger among residents of Jones Town, a community in the heart of Kingston, triggering hours of demonstrations that included road blockades across the neighborhood. The victim has been formally identified as Alexander Marsh, a 30-year-old who went by the nickname “Choco” and resided at 30½ Penn Street in Jones Town.

Superintendent Brian Henry, head of the Kingston Western Police Division, outlined the law enforcement agency’s account of the incident to media and community stakeholders. According to Henry, at approximately 8:40 p.m. that evening, members of the division’s Operational Support Team were conducting routine patrols in the adjacent Admiral Town area when they spotted a man acting in a manner that raised their suspicion. The man, later confirmed to be Marsh, fled into a private residential yard along Penn Street immediately after making eye contact with the patrol officers.

Officers followed Marsh onto the property, Henry said, where the 30-year-old allegedly drew and aimed a loaded sub-machine gun at the pursuing law enforcement personnel. “Fearing for their own safety, the officers opened fire on the man,” Henry stated in the official police account. Marsh was struck by gunfire and immediately rushed to Kingston Public Hospital for emergency treatment, but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Responding officers recovered the alleged sub-machine gun along with three 9mm rounds from the scene after the encounter, per police reports.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Jones Town residents took to the streets to protest the killing, blocking multiple major and minor roadways through the community. The demonstrations continued overnight and persisted into the following morning, according to Henry. In comments that have drawn additional criticism from local observers, the superintendent characterized the protests as a recurring pattern for the community. “The road blockages and unlawful demonstrations have long been a customary practice for people in this specific area,” he said, calling on residents to stand down and let official investigations proceed unimpeded.

Per standard protocol for police-involved fatalities, two independent oversight bodies have launched probes into the incident: the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), Jamaica’s national police oversight agency, and the Inspectorate of Professional Standards Oversight Bureau within the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Henry has issued a public appeal for any witnesses or community members with additional information about the encounter to contact investigators to support the inquiry.

Henry also addressed long-standing community concerns about violent crime in Jones Town, confirming that the neighborhood continues to grapple with internal gang-related conflicts. He noted that out of the 12 homicides recorded across the entire Kingston Western Police Division since the start of the calendar year, two have occurred within Jones Town’s boundaries. Since January, the division has seized 15 illegal firearms, four of which were recovered in Jones Town, according to police data.

To address the ongoing violence, Henry said the Jamaica Constabulary Force is ramping up community outreach initiatives while executing targeted anti-crime operations designed to improve public safety for local residents. He also pointed to recent progress in reducing violent crime across the division, noting that the entire Kingston Western division recorded zero homicides in the month of April. “This is the outcome we hope to replicate moving forward,” he said. “Our officers are working tirelessly to achieve this, and we are already seeing measurable progress in our crime reduction efforts.”