A large portion of Puerto Rico experienced a significant power outage on Tuesday, with prospects for full restoration extending into early January. The island’s power company promptly initiated efforts to address the outage in the early hours of the morning. By 10:30 p.m. local time, Luma Energy, the principal power provider for the territory, reported having successfully restored service to 42% of its customer base, accounting for over 616,000 individuals.
Earlier that Tuesday afternoon, approximately 1.2 million customers in Puerto Rico, constituting 82.2% of the electricity company’s clientele, found themselves without power on New Year’s Eve. Notably, service was reinstated at 16 hospitals, including the medical center and municipal hospital in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, as confirmed by Luma Puerto Rico.
The regions most severely impacted by the outages, as reported by Luma at 10:30 p.m. local time, were identified as follows:
– Arecibo: 77% affected, totaling 152,748 clients
– Ponce: 72% affected, totaling 166,591 clients
– Caguas: 61% affected, totaling 152,080 clients
The widespread blackout commenced at 5:30 a.m., casting much of Puerto Rico into darkness and prompting announcements from the territory’s electric utility indicating that the restoration process might span up to two days. Luma conveyed on Tuesday afternoon that power restoration across the island was anticipated within a 24 to 48-hour timeframe.
Preliminary investigations into the cause of the outage have pointed towards a failure in an underground line, as disclosed by Luma in a statement to Reuters. Ivan Baez, spokesperson for power generator Genera, identified the electric line in question as being under the purview of Luma, with repercussions impacting facilities operated by Genera and private generators.
Puerto Rico, a sought-after destination seeing around 6 million visitors annually, particularly during the holiday season, faced disruptions in travel due to the outage. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, a pivotal transit node offering frequent connections to and from New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia, resorted to generator power to manage operations.
In the realm of media coverage, Julia, a prominent reporter for USA TODAY, remains engaged across various platforms including LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and TikTok under the handle @juliamariegz. For further communication, Julia can be reached via email at jgomez@gannett.com.
As updates continue to emerge, this evolving situation underscores the challenges posed by the mass power outages that unfolded in Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve, necessitating ongoing vigilance and response efforts.
