Repair crews on Thursday worked to restore electricity to Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million people after a fire at a power plant blacked out the entire U.S. territory.
The government canceled classes at public schools and universities, while hospitals canceled all elective surgeries and non-urgent appointments. The majority of government employees were given the morning off.
“We hope that by Friday everything will have returned to normal,” Javier Quintana, executive director of the Electric Power Authority, said.
Power was restored to more than 130,000 customers out of a total of 1.5 million by early Thursday morning, but Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla warned it would be a slow process.
“Given that the system is so old, numerous setbacks could occur,” he told reporters.
Several fires were reported overnight as a result of people using candles and generators, but no one was injured, Garcia said, adding that no looting or other opportunistic crimes occurred as a result of the blackout.
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. The fire began at a switch and caused two transmission lines of 230,000 volts each to fail. The outage was the latest hit for an island mired in a decade-long economic crisis and whose government has warned it is running out of money as it seeks to restructure nearly $70 billion in public debt.
“This is a very serious event,” Garcia said. “The system is not designed to withstand a failure of this magnitude.”
Many Puerto Ricans expressed doubts that power would be restored quickly, saying the economic slump has affected basic government services. Hundreds of people took to social media to criticize the Electric Power Authority, noting that they already pay bills on average twice that of the U.S. mainland.
It was unclear how much damage the fire caused or where the power company would obtain the money to repair or buy new equipment. The utility is struggling with a $9 billion debt that it hopes to restructure as it faces numerous corruption allegations. Company officials have said they are seeking more revenue to update what they say is outdated equipment.
The governor, however, said that no amount of money or maintenance would have prevented the fire. He said the switch where the fire began had received proper maintenance.
Authorities said Wednesday’s outage caused 15 fires across Puerto Rico as a result of malfunctioning generators, including at the upscale Vanderbilt hotel in the popular tourist area of Condado and at the mayor’s office in the northern coastal town of Catano. All those fires were extinguished and no one was injured, officials said.
The blackout knocked out traffic lights, snarling the island’s roads. Businesses, universities and government offices closed early, putting even more cars on chaotic roads. Some people opted to not go home and hotels in the capital of San Juan quickly filled up.
As the sun set, people crowded into restaurants running on generators. Others chatted with neighbors while standing or sitting at opened doors and windows trying to beat the hot night.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Can you say, “this is government extortion”? The U.S. has been trying to make them do what we want for years. The U.S. wants them to become a state, they don’t want it. The U.S. is extorting them plain and simple, and it will not be repaired and back on line until they say “Uncle”. Yeah, good ‘ol Uncle Sam. . .
Yep, the democrats see another possible pool of possible votes. I think we need to stop supporting Puerto Rico. They are so happy to receive all the aid we give them, 6.5 billion annually. Why in the hell would Puerto Rico give up it’s gravy train? I started to read the 305 page OMB report on Puerto Rico and became disgusted and stopped. So now, Puerto Rico will want the feds to “upgrade” their power grid (1.5 billion in debt, yet their power rate is twice that of the USA) at the expense of the US taxpayer. Oh woo me, I am so poor. I just can’t work.
We here is the US are equally exposed to power problems due to our aging electrical infrastructure. Solar discharge and possible Electromagnetic Pulse would completely cripple our nation for years. As many a 90% of our citizens would be lost in the first year of a total blackout. We do not have the ability to repair our electrical grid as we no longer have the necessary backup supplies needed. They are now being manufactured in China. It would take a very long time to obtain what we need if China wanted to cooperate….. Our politicians do nothing and have been made aware of the power grid vulnerability. What’s wrong with this picture? Hopefully Puerto Rico will provide the impetus for us to at least begin the upgrades needed. Puerto Rico may have the same leadership problem that we have here. It is unnecessary and unacceptable for the people of any nation to endure the electrical problems when there are so many solutions; it is the leadership that has to be held responsible.
“The governor, however, said that no amount of money or maintenance would have prevented the fire. He said the switch where the fire began had received proper maintenance.”
As an electric utility worker myself, I seriously doubt a governor knows the technical aspects of the switch. To his position no amount of money or maintenance would have prevented it? Sounds to me like he believes it was intentionally set… ‘schneewichen’ above thinks it is U.S. extortion.
So, Puerto Rico debt being 70 billion USD, 68% of their GDP that corrupt politicians created and now we are (whim of US politicians) wanting to make them a state so WE the taxpayer assume their liability. Puerto Rico does not want to be a state, instead, continue to such off the US government teat. A likely source of democratic votes. They have a power grid through neglect and corruption that is 1.5 billion in red ink with no viable financial solution except the generosity of the US politicians. I met a person a few years ago who moved to the US, told me of the free things offered there. He complained about needing to pay for stuff that was given freely there. Is this what we want, another welfare state and it’s debt? Federal aid to Puerto Rico is 6.5 billion annually. Where does that money go? Does it all smell like political corruption?
There of course a technical answer for Puerto Rico. They should be allowed to mine their reserves of cobalt and nickel ! We set up the mines in Cuba in the early 1960’s. The minerals have been going from Cuba to Canada so we can still buy the strategic metals ! Why else would Obama have made a quick trip to Cuba in June ? To protect those resources, such that Environmentally Puerto Rico could be denied there wealth.
This environmental impact was stated in 1984 , When Puerto Rico was declared a financial disaster. Blame the EPA . They refused to allow the mining !
Headline says they are trying to blackout the whole country. Maybe they need to teach real English in school instead of text messaging shortcuts. My written English may not be the best but, I do know the difference restoring power and restoring a blackout.
Go Nuclear, Solar, Coal, Hydrogen, Fuel cells, Thorium reactors, Tidal Ciurrents, Biofuels
Cant believe one plant powers PR, so lame.
Get 2,3 alone for Backup
Modernize the grid some& OK OFF Grid liviing.
Maybe this is just a warning on what is coming up next. They do these type of test to see how people react. Ill bet you that if they started looting the stores they will restore the power immediately. They will do the same test here in the main land so when the SHTF situation people at first wont do anything then it will give them time to activate martial law