Joggers exercise on a dark street after a massive blackout on the island of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on December 31, 2024.
Ricardo Arduungo | Ricardo Arduungo AFP | Getty Images
A near-wide power outage hit Puerto Rico early Tuesday, plunging more than 1.3 million customers into darkness as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate the New Year. Officials said it could take two days to restore power.
The power went out at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as the island’s appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators could turn them on.
“It must be December 31st!” A man who called himself Manuel stood outside a grocery store in the capital San Juan and complained about the power outage on his birthday. “There is no happiness.”
Nearly 90% of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million customers are in the dark, according to Luma Energy, the private company that oversees transmission and distribution. If conditions permit, power is expected to be restored within 24 to 48 hours.
Luma said in a statement that the outage appeared to be caused by a fault in an underground power line and that power was being restored “in the fastest and safest way possible.”
A Luma spokesman told The Associated Press that the incident is under investigation.
A spokesman for Genera PR, which oversees power generation, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Not knowing when power will be restored, Puerto Ricans are starting to think ahead.
“I go to my balcony. That’s where I sleep,” said Raul Pacheco, a 63-year-old diabetic, with a resigned shrug as he sat on a walker nursing his injured foot.
Julio Córdova, a city worker raking leaves from a nearby sidewalk, said he got dressed by the light of his cellphone and planned to buy candles.
“It affects me because I have plans. It can’t be yesterday or tomorrow?” he said, shaking his head.
While power outages are rare in Puerto Rico, the island Continue to fight long-term power outages Maria, the powerful Category 4 storm that hit the island in September 2017, knocked out a collapsed power grid.
However, the system had already begun to decline before the storm due to years of lack of maintenance and investment.
Some Puerto Ricans have taken the recent power outages in stride.
“They are part of my daily life,” said Enid Núñez, 49, who said she ate breakfast before work thanks to the small gas stove she bought for such events.
