The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, said a tree fell on a major power line, knocking out service to 870,000 customers, about half of its clients. The utility tweeted an image it says was of the tree that fell across a power line near the southeast mountain town of Cayey.
Major blackouts were reported from the northern coastal town of Manatí to Yabucoa, roughly 50 miles southeast.
The blackout also includes the capital of San Juan, the most populated area of the island.
“We are devastated at this point,” Cynthia García Coll, an educational psychologist who lives near San Juan, told CNN. “Every time this happens we go into PTSD mode.”
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said it could take eight to 16 hours for electricity to be restored.
Cruz posted images on Twitter of police officers directing traffic on the streets of San Juan.
Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, home to more than 3 million US citizens, in late September.
“More customer-hours have been lost in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria than in the rest of the US over the past five years due to all causes combined,” according to the group’s analysis.
The Corps of Engineers has said back-to-back 2017 disasters, the remoteness of the island and the fact that some supplies had to be manufactured for installation in Puerto Rico, slowed down work on the electric system.
San Juan resident Domingo Marqués told CNN on Thursday that many residents have lost confidence in both PREPA and the island’s government.
“At this point, we are so helpless and hopeless,” Marqués said. “We still have so many people exposed to suffering, displacement and trauma that two hours without power is like a reminder that the problem is nowhere near to be fixed. We have just learned to live with it.”
CNN’s Spencer Feingold contributed to this report.
Source : Nbcnewyork