Puerto Rico was plunged into darkness Tuesday morning due to an island-wide power outage.
The cause of the blackout is still being investigated, but preliminary results point to a fault in the underground line, according to Luma Energy, the island’s main electricity distribution company. Full restoration of service may take between 24-48 hours, the company said to X.
Only 13 percent of the island’s 1.4 million customers had power around 1000AST (1400GMT), according to the New York Times.
An hour later, power was restored to other areas, including the San Juan Municipal Hospital, Luma said.
The New Year’s Eve blackout prompted renewed calls from elected officials and residents to address ongoing power problems in the unincorporated US territory, which have been ongoing since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
The island cannot continue to tolerate a power system that repeatedly defeats its citizens, Jennifer González-Colon, the current representative of the congress of Puerto Rico and the future governor of Puerto Rico, wrote in X.
Shortages continue to affect Puerto Rico’s economy and quality of life, he said.
On Facebook, the current governor, Pedro Pierluisi, is looking for answers and solutions from the two main electricity companies, Luma and Genera.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have simultaneously been affected by power outages this year. The June blackout left about 350,000 customers without power as temperatures soared, and more than 700,000 customers lost power after Hurricane Ernesto in August.
Waking up to another day without power, Puerto Ricans expressed their frustration to the US media.
“They are part of my daily life,” Enid Núñez, 49, said in an Associated Press release.
Puerto Rico’s power grid was resilient even before Hurricane Maria devastated the island. US government funding has helped boost the grid, support disaster recovery projects, and make other critical infrastructure improvements.
But implementation has been incomplete due to various factors, such as problems starting construction and the requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to authorize the use of other funds, according to February 2024. report from the US Government Office.
“There is no doubt that the electric grid has not yet recovered from the damage of Hurricane Maria,” Mark Levine, president of the Manhattan district, New York City, wrote in X.
New York City is home to the largest Puerto Rican community in the US.
“This is 3.5M American citizens,” he wrote. “We owe them the best.”
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