Power out in most of Puerto Rico

World Today

Puerto Rico Power OutagePower plant in Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico.

A fire at a major electric plant in Puerto Rico has knocked out power in almost all of the U.S. territory.

A spokeswoman for the Electric Power Authority said Wednesday that officials are trying to determine what happened. The firefighting department said on Twitter that crews were on their way to put out a large fire at an electric plant in southern Puerto Rico that serves a majority of clients on the island of 3.5 million people.

According to Twitter user CyclonePR, the blackout began at this power station in Central Aguirre:

Heavy storms are affecting the area where the plant is located.

According to Prima Hora, former member of the Governing Board of the ESA, Luis Santini Gaudier, said he had information that it was a “blackout” and not a “relay charge”, and that even the municipalities of Vieques islands and Culebra were affected.

The widespread outage is snarling traffic as people prepare to leave work.

It is unclear when power would be restored.

The heavily indebted power company is undergoing a restructuring and seeking funds to update what it says is outdated equipment.

Story by The Associated Press

Oscar Sotomayor Vicent on Puerto Rico power outage

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