00:00Island-wide blackout hits Puerto Rico as residents prepare for Easter weekend San Juan,
00:05Puerto Rico, AP. An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the largely Catholic
00:12residents of the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate the E.T. Easter weekend officials said
00:18all 1.4 million clients on the island were without power. Hugo Sorrentini, spokesman for Luma Energy,
00:26which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, told the Associated Press.
00:32The entire island is without generation, he said. Hotels were at near capacity,
00:38with thousands of tourists celebrating Easter vacations on the island. Meanwhile,
00:44at least 78,000 clients were without water, with officials warning that power likely won't be
00:50fully restored for another 48 to 72 hours. This is unacceptable, said Josue Colon,
00:58the island's so-called energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico's Electric Power
01:03Authority. It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown, the latest in a string of major
01:12blackouts on the island in recent years. Governor Jennifer Gonzalez, who was traveling, said officials
01:19were, working diligently to address the outage. Thousands of Puerto Ricans were fuming over the
01:25latest outage, with many renewing their calls that the government cancel the contract with Luma and
01:30Genera PR, which oversees generation of power on the island. This is a total disaster, said Orlando Huertas,
01:3968, as he sipped a drink with a friend at a street-side bar and criticized the government for not
01:45doing enough to tackle the chronic outages. Dozens of people were forced to walk next to the rails of
01:52the rapid transit system that serves the capital, San Juan, while scores of businesses including the
01:58biggest mall in the Caribbean were forced to close. Professional baseball and basketball games were
02:04canceled as the hum of generators and smell of smoke filled the air. Traffic became snarled as police
02:11officers were deployed to busy intersections. By late Wednesday afternoon, some $5,000 to $7,000.
02:19Clients had their power restored, although that number is expected to fluctuate. Those without
02:25generators crowded around grocery stores and other businesses to buy ice. I'm desperate.
02:31My generator is broken, said Carmen Suriel, who worried about the impact of the blackout on her two
02:37children, a six-month-old and a five-year-old with Down syndrome, as the temperature rose across Puerto
02:43Rico on Wednesday. Alma Ramirez, 69, said she was frustrated with the constant outages, some of which
02:51had already damaged her TV and microwave, forcing her to buy new appliances. They have to improve,
02:58she said of the government. Those who are affected are us, the poor. The island of 3.2 million residents
03:05has a more than 40% poverty rate, and not everyone can afford solar panels or generators.
03:12While there was a push to use more renewable energy sources under the administration of former
03:17U.S. President Joe Biden, which provided Puerto Rico with mega generators and other resources,
03:23experts worry that won't happen under U.S. President Donald Trump. Roughly 117,000 homes and
03:30businesses on the island have solar rooftops. Meanwhile, petroleum-fired power plants provide
03:3762% of Puerto Rico's power, natural gas 24%, coal 8%, and renewables 7%, according to the U.S.
03:46Energy Information Administration. Daniel Hernandez, Vice President of Operations at Genera PR, said,
03:53at a news conference that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon on Wednesday.
03:58Wednesday. During a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are not many machines regulating
04:04frequency at that hour, Veronica Ferraioli, acting governor and secretary of state for Puerto Rico,
04:11said the White House reached out to local officials and said they are available if needed.
04:17Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, said he would work to ensure that
04:23Washington understands the real and urgent situation Puerto Ricans face every day.
04:30The electric grid crisis is frustrating, and after years of blackouts, it feels like...
04:35...
04:36...
04:38...
04:40...
04:42...
04:44...
04:46...
04:48...
Comments