PUERTO RICO (WABC) — A blackout affected the entire island of Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the predominantly Catholic population of the U.S. territory geared up to celebrate Easter weekend, according to a spokesperson from the power company.
Hugo Sorrentini, the spokesperson for Luma Energy, the entity responsible for power transmission and distribution, informed The Associated Press that all 1.4 million customers on the island were left without electricity. “The whole island is without power generation,” he stated.
The cause of this latest blackout, one of several significant power failures the island has experienced in recent years, was not immediately evident. Even though Governor Jenniffer González was away on travel, she mentioned that authorities were actively working to resolve the situation.
Dozens of people were forced to walk next to the rails of the rapid transit system that serves the capital, San Juan, while scores of businesses including the biggest mall in the Caribbean were forced to close. Professional baseball and basketball games were cancelled as the hum of generators and smell of smoke filled the air.
The last island-wide blackout occurred on New Year’s Eve. Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild.
The grid already had been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment.
Congressman Ritchie Torres posted on social media, saying “access to dependable power-a basic right most Americans take for granted-remains out of reach for millions on the island.”
“This is a national disgrace,” Torres said.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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