SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Much of Puerto Rico was without electricity Thursday following a fire at a power plant that set off a broader outage across the island's aging utility grid, leaving most of the island's 3.5 million people without service.
The vast majority of Puerto Ricans don't have generators and they were forced to spend the night in darkness and without air conditioning in the tropical heat. They awoke to find most businesses and public offices closed, with the officials saying it could be 24 hours before power would be restored.
"Puerto Rico is not prepared for something like this," said 23-year-old Celestino Ayala Santiago, who slept in his car so he could have some air conditioning to escape the heat.
Smaller, more localized power outages are common in Puerto Rico, which has an outdated energy infrastructure, but not on this scale except following tropical storms. "This is an apocalypse," said 43-year-old Jose Tavela as he ate breakfast at a small cafe in the capital that had a generator.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/crews-rush-restore-power-blacked-puerto-rico-040059663.html
The vast majority of Puerto Ricans don't have generators and they were forced to spend the night in darkness and without air conditioning in the tropical heat. They awoke to find most businesses and public offices closed, with the officials saying it could be 24 hours before power would be restored.
"Puerto Rico is not prepared for something like this," said 23-year-old Celestino Ayala Santiago, who slept in his car so he could have some air conditioning to escape the heat.
Smaller, more localized power outages are common in Puerto Rico, which has an outdated energy infrastructure, but not on this scale except following tropical storms. "This is an apocalypse," said 43-year-old Jose Tavela as he ate breakfast at a small cafe in the capital that had a generator.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/crews-rush-restore-power-blacked-puerto-rico-040059663.html
