Puerto Rico slammed by island-wide blackout forward of Easter weekend | EUROtoday

On Apr 17, 2025

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At least 1.4 million prospects in Puerto Rico misplaced energy as your complete U.S. territory was hit by an island-wide blackout.

The outage occurred at 12:38 p.m. on Wednesday, in line with Luma Energy, the corporate answerable for energy distribution and transmission throughout Puerto Rico, noting that it’s working to revive electrical techniques.

The large outage led to disarray throughout the island. Hundreds of 1000’s had been with out water, practice passengers had been pressured to stroll alongside the rails after energy was misplaced, and unlit visitors lights triggered gridlock. The blackout occurred days earlier than the largely Catholic island celebrates Easter.

And it might be days earlier than the lights come again on.

“This is unacceptable,” Josué Colón, the island’s “energy czar” and former govt director of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, the Associated Press reported.

People walk down a dark street in San Juan, Puerto Rico after the island was hit with a massive power outage — People stroll down a darkish road in San Juan, Puerto Rico after the island was hit with a large energy outage (REUTERS)

Luma Energy is prioritizing restoring energy to “critical facilities,” like Centro Médico hospital, whereas 90 p.c of consumers’ electrical energy will hopefully be restored inside 48 to 72 hours, the corporate estimated in an 8 p.m. replace posted to X.

By 11 p.m. Wednesday, about 100,000 prospects had their energy restored.

“This event once again highlights the fragility of the electrical system, something LUMA has pointed out since the beginning of its operations,” the corporate mentioned. “We remain committed to transforming it into a safer and more reliable system for all customers in Puerto Rico.”

Puerto Rico's Energy Czar Josué Colón speaks alongside Interim Governor and Secretary of State Veronica Ferraiuoli during a press conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico Thursday as the territory suffers an island-wide blackout — Puerto Rico’s Energy Czar Josué Colón speaks alongside Interim Governor and Secretary of State Veronica Ferraiuoli throughout a press convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico Thursday because the territory suffers an island-wide blackout (EPA)

Puerto Rico residents are not any strangers to large blackouts; the newest occurred simply months in the past on New Year’s Eve.

“It is unacceptable that we have a failure of this magnitude in the electrical transmission system,” Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón mentioned Wednesday.

She was on trip when the territory went darkish, however returned Wednesday evening, in line with AP.

People queue near a restaurant in a dark street after Puerto Rico was hit with a massive power outage where energy plants across the island unexpectedly shut down — People queue close to a restaurant in a darkish road after Puerto Rico was hit with a large energy outage the place power crops throughout the island unexpectedly shut down (REUTERS)

Both Interim Governor Veronica Ferraiuoli and Energy Czar Josué Colón are “working diligently” with the power sector to resolve the problem, the governor mentioned in an announcement.

Both the island’s hospitals, in line with Ferraiuoli, and the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport had been counting on generator energy.

“Flights are operating normally and are uninterrupted,” the airport introduced at 1.20 p.m. on X. “We recommend passengers to arrive to the airport with sufficient time.”

The reason for the outage is underneath investigation, energy generator Genera PR mentioned Wednesday on X.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/puerto-rico-power-outage-blackout-b2734782.html