San Juan, Puerto Rico – Mass power outages swept across almost all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve. More than 1.2 million of the 1.47 million customers were without power, according to Luma Energy, the private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution on the island.
Luma said in a statement It could take 24 to 48 hours to restore power across the island early Tuesday, saying “conditions are favourable”, but a few hours later it said service had been restored to some areas, but the total number of affected customers was unknown. No updated information has been given. ,
The company said a medical center and San Juan's municipal hospital were back in operation, and it would provide further updates on the resumption of service across the island every two hours.
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“Although the cause of the outage is being investigated, preliminary findings point to a failure in the underground line,” Luma said in an earlier statement.
Reuters quoted Iván Baez, a spokesman for Genera, Puerto Rico's primary energy generator, as saying the grid failure was believed to be caused by a problem with a line operated by Luma, but it also brought down Genera-related plants. Some other private power generators.
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said in a post on social media that his administration was communicating with both Luma and Genera “regarding the massive blackout affecting a large part of the island due to a serious fault”.
He said work is underway to restore power supply and the government is “seeking answers and solutions from both Luma and Genera, which should accelerate the restarting of generation units outside the fault zone and return people to their “Should be informed about the measures being taken.” “To restore service across the island.”
However, speaking to the Telemundo network late Monday night, Josue Colón, head of Puerto Rico's Electric Energy Authority, said, Said it could take several days To fully restore service.
Puerto Rico continues to suffer frequent power outages, blamed on a failing power grid devastated by hurricane mariaA powerful Category 4 hurricane that struck the island in September 2017. The system was already in decline before the storm due to lack of maintenance and investment.
In a message posted on social media Tuesday, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state has the largest population of Puerto Ricans in the continental U.S., said the territory's residents have been treated “second class for too long.” Have been treated as citizens.” ,
“The fact that, as Americans, they do not have a reliable electrical grid and suffer sporadic blackouts on an ongoing basis is inexcusable and will not be tolerated anywhere in the United States.” Cuomo said“The federal government must finally accept its responsibility to Puerto Rico and provide the resources and expertise needed to end this cycle of madness once and for all.”