SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Frustration mounted across Puerto Rico on Friday amid record-high heat as the USA territory struggled to restore electricity more than two days after a power plant fire caused an island-wide blackout when it shut down an aging utility grid.
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About 75 percent of 1.5 million homes and businesses served by the power utility had electricity restored by Friday morning, with cries of, “The lights are back on!” echoing through some neighborhoods.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The governor of Puerto Rico says power is slowly being restored almost 24 hours after a blackout swept across the island.
As of Thursday morning, service had been restored to just 130,000 customers and, barring any mishaps, more than half of the island could have power by the afternoon, the company said via Twitter. Locals, however, may have an eyebrow raised, given the instability of the aging, debt-ridden utility over the last few years; power outages are not uncommon in Puerto Rico-they come with the territory and the tropical storms-and most are brief, though some are said to last weeks.
Utility officials are trying to determine what caused the fire yesterday afternoon in the southern town of Salinas.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames but the damage has still not been repaired, leaving millions without power.
Almost everyone on the island of 3.5 million people lost power. The fire apparently knocked out two transmission lines that serve the broader grid, which tripped circuit breakers that automatically shut down the flow of power as a preventive measure, officials said. They say traffic lights are out, business and schools are closed, and only some people have running water.
Utility crews are working on to restore power as soon as possible but the government-run Power Electric Authorities (AEE) said normal service should resume sometime Friday.
While those with power celebrated a return to normalcy, others lamented having spent another night in darkness with no air conditioning in the tropical heat. “The system is not created to withstand a failure of this magnitude”. “Lots of setbacks may occur”, the Governor said. Many likely planned to drag mattresses out to balconies and porches to spend the night outside.
“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. Company officials have said they are seeking revenue to update outdated equipment.
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The company said in a press release that no injuries had been reported and the fire was controlled. He said the switch where the fire began had received proper maintenance.
