Puerto Rico was plunged into an island-wide blackout on Wednesday, leaving all 1.4 million electricity customers without power just days before the start of Easter weekend. The outage disrupted daily life across the U.S. territory, shutting down businesses, canceling sports events, and stranding commuters.
“The entire island is without generation,” Luma Energy spokesperson Hugo Sorrentini said, though the exact cause of the outage remains under investigation.
At least 78,000 residents also lost access to water, and officials estimate that full power restoration could take 48 to 72 hours.
Josué Colón, the island’s energy coordinator and former head of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, called the situation “unacceptable.” Thousands of frustrated residents demanded the termination of contracts with Luma and Genera PR, the companies responsible for the island’s power transmission and generation.
The outage halted operations at Puerto Rico’s rapid transit system, forced the closure of shopping centers—including the Caribbean’s largest mall—and triggered widespread reliance on generators, filling the air with smoke and the hum of emergency power.
Acting Governor Verónica Ferraiuoli said the White House had reached out and is standing by to assist. Puerto Rico has faced persistent power issues since Hurricane Maria devastated the grid in 2017.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available.
Reporting by the Associated Press contributed to this story.
Puerto Rico was plunged into an island-wide blackout on Wednesday, leaving all 1.4 million electricity customers without power just days before the start of Easter weekend. The outage disrupted daily life across the U.S. territory,… Puerto Rico was plunged into an island-wide blackout on Wednesday, leaving all 1.4 million electricity customers without power just days before the start of Easter weekend. The outage disrupted daily life across the U.S. territory, shutting down businesses, canceling sports events, and stranding commuters.
