Major outage forces Puerto Rico to shutter schools, offices
Published:Thursday | April 7, 2022 | 10:10 AM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — More than a million customers in Puerto Rico remained without electricity on Thursday after a fire at a main power plant caused the biggest blackout so far this year across the US territory, forcing it to cancel classes and shutter government offices.
The blackout also left some 160,000 customers without water and snarled traffic across the island of 3.2 million people, where the roar of generators and smell of diesel filled the air.
Those who could not afford generators and have medical conditions such as diabetes, which depends on refrigerated insulin, worried about how much longer they'd be without power.
Long lines formed at some gas stations as people sought fuel for generators.
Others tried to charge their cell phones at businesses in scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which struck as a Category 4 storm in 2017.
Officials in at least one city distributed food to hundreds of elderly people as well as ice to those whose medication must be kept cool.
“This is horrible,” said Luisa Rosado, a mother of two who lives in the San Juan neighbourhood of Río Piedras.
Luma, the company that took over transmission and distribution from Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority last year, said the blackout could have been caused by a circuit-breaker failure at the Costa Sur generation plant — one of four main plants on the island.
“The system is being restored little by little,” said Kevin Acevedo, a vice president of Luma, adding that the company is trying to complete the work within 24 hours.
“The people of Puerto Rico have to understand that it's a system with a lot of years. Bringing back Puerto Rico's system is a delicate and complicated process.”
Luma said the exact cause of the interruption is unknown.
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