The island’s top official repeatedly said that the power failure, which left the island practically paralyzed, was due to a problem that could not have been avoided, noting that many people had to wait 48 hours in NY to recover their electric service after a blackout there years ago.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Power was slowly being restored in Puerto Rico on Thursday, almost 24 hours after a blackout swept across the island when a fire at a power plant set off a cascade of problems that knocked out the aging utility grid.
The Electric Power Authority said investigators were trying to determine what caused the fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon at a power plant in southern Puerto Rico that serves a majority of customers on the island.
El Nuevo Dia newspaper first reported that a failure in transmission at the Aguirre site caused a “total collapse of the system” which led to loss of power.
The government-run power company, Autoridad de Energia Eléctrica, said in a tweet that if things go as planned, about half of those customers should have their power restored by the end of the afternoon.
While those with power celebrated a return to normalcy, others lamented having to face another night in darkness with no air conditioning in the tropical heat. Many Puerto Ricans dragged mattresses out to balconies and porches to spend the night outside, doing what they could to ward off mosquitoes in the still air.
As sunset approached, lines formed at ice plants, supermarkets and gas stations, and people crouched around power outlets at generator-powered supermarkets and malls to charge cellphones.
Traffic lights remained dark most of Thursday, and police officers stood in the streets directing traffic all day, some in heavy downpours.
“To see everything blacked out, my God”, said Virginia Davila, a nurse’s assistant who lives on the 11th floor of an apartment building in San Juan.
Fire Chief Angel Crespo says the power outage was caused by an overheated switch, causing a 2-thousand gallon mineral oil tank to explode. Even Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro García Padilla appeared concerned: “Given that the system is so old, numerous setbacks could occur”, he said at a news conference.
It was not yet clear how much damage the fire caused.
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The company said in a press release that no injuries had been reported and the fire was controlled. Company officials have said they are seeking more revenue to update what they say is outdated equipment.
