Yet another set-back for an already weary island. On Wednesday, Puerto Rico suffered from an island-wide black out. The power grid was already unstable after Hurricane Maria more than seven months ago. Officials are unaware of what caused the temporary power failure, but estimate it will take 24-36 hours to restore. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said the priority for restoring service will be to hospitals, Luis Muñoz Marín Airport, AAA pumping systems and banking centers.
AEE Informa: La prioridad para restablecer el servicio son las cargas críticas de los hospitales, el aeropuerto Luis Muñoz Marín, los sistemas de bombeo de AAA y centros bancarios. Luego siguen las industrias, comercios y residencias. CC1
— AEE (@AEEONLINE) April 18, 2018
This comes just one week after more than 800,000 customers lost power when a tree branch fell on a power line. Nearly half of the agency’s clients were impacted.
AEE Informa: La caída de este árbol sobre la línea 50900 a la altura de Cayey, causó la interrupción de servicio eléctrico desde Manatí hasta Yabucoa. Seguimos trabajando para restablecer el servicio a cerca de 840,000 clientes. CC1 pic.twitter.com/ncDyVsrV6q
— AEE (@AEEONLINE) April 12, 2018
Nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria lashed Puerto Rico as a high-end Category 4 storm, some 40,000 Puerto Ricans were still without regular power service.
That said, Puerto Rico is slowly getting back closer to pre-storm conditions in other respects, however. More than 99 percent of Puerto Ricans have running water, all of the island’s postal service offices have re-opened, 92 percent of supermarkets have reopened and 88 percent of gas stations are back up and running.
An estimated 200,000 or more people fled Puerto Rico after Maria, with the overwhelming majority of those moving to Florida.
The lack of power to parts of Puerto Rico is of potential increasing concern as we get closer to the start of 2018 hurricane season. The first outlooks for the season have already been released, and the possibility of more storms will return to the area in the next few months.
Stay with WeatherNation as we continue to track Maria’s impact on Puerto Rico and the ongoing cleanup efforts there.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Those who are interested in helping out residents of Puerto Rico should consider a monetary donation. The Red Cross continues to support those recovering from the storm. Click the link to make a charitable donation.
There are several other organizations that will accept contributions for continuing support, not only in Puerto Rico but other areas affected by this devastating hurricane season. Here are a few of those: MariaFund.org , Fund for the Virgin Islands , Unidos por Puerto Rico, Unidos by the Hispanic Federation, Dominica Relief, AmericCares, and so many more. We encourage you to check your local area for continued relief efforts.