Juan Castro fills a power plant with gasoline to energize the cabinet building workshop where he works, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Officials say it will take 24 to 36 hours to restore power after a Island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

Juan Castro fills a power plant with gasoline to energize the cabinet building workshop where he works, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Officials say it will take 24 to 36 hours to restore power after a Island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday after an excavator accidentally downed a transmission line, officials said, as the U.S. territory struggles to repair an increasingly unstable power grid nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria.

Officials said it could take 24 to 36 hours to fully restore power to more than 1.4 million customers as outrage grew across the island about the state of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority. It was the second major outage in less than a week, with the previous one affecting some 840,000 customers.

“This is too much,” said Luis Oscar Rivera, a computer technician who just got normal power back at his house less than two months ago. “It’s like the first day of Maria all over again.”

Authorities said the same contractor was involved in the two latest big power failures and had been fired. The outage last Thursday was set off when a tree limb fell on a power line as the contractor cleared land in central Puerto Rico and a backup line failed. On Wednesday, an excavator used by the contractor hit a transmission line near the south coast.

Several large power outages have hit Puerto Rico in recent months, but Wednesday was the first time since the hurricane struck Sept. 20 that the U.S. territory has experienced a full island-wide blackout.

The outage snarled traffic across the island, interrupted classes and work, and forced dozens of businesses to temporarily close, including the largest mall and popular tourist attractions like a 16th century fort in the historic part of Puerto Rico’s capital. Long lines formed stations across the island, while authorities offered assurances that there was enough gasoline available.

Backup generators roared to life at the island’s largest public hospital and at its main international airport, where officials reported no cancellations or delays. Meanwhile, the power company said its own customer service center was out of service and asked people to go online or use the phone.

Officials said restoring power to hospitals, airports, banking centers and water pumping systems was their priority. Following that would be businesses and then homes.

By late in the afternoon, power had returned to several hospitals and at least five of the island’s 78 municipalities.

Carmen Yulin Cruz, mayor of the capital of San Juan, said the outage would not interrupt the last of a two-game series between the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins, which is being played on the island. She said all emergency systems at Hiram Bithorn stadium are functioning and that tower lights and additional security will be placed at the stadium’s parking lot.

Justo Gonzalez, the power company’s executive sub-director, told reporters that workers were removing a collapsed tower Wednesday during unrelated power restoration efforts near the south coast and an excavator hit the transmission line.

“We are working in areas that are quite crowded with high voltage lines,” he said.

Fredyson Martinez, vice president of a union that represents power company workers in Puerto Rico, told The Associated Press that he was concerned about the two back-to-back incidents.

“That is not normal,” he said.

Government officials said a company hired by Cobra Energy known as Dgrimm was involved in both incidents that led to the power outages. Dgrimm had been asked to change its security protocols after the first incident, and it has since been terminated, said William Rios, power generation director.

“This is unacceptable for us,” he said, adding that government attorneys were meeting with officials at Cobra Energy, a Mammoth Energy subsidiary.

Angel Figueroa, president of the power workers’ union, told reporters that workers were investigating why a backup breaker at a main power station in the island’s southern region did not function when the outage occurred, causing the entire electrical grid to shut down to protect itself. He noted it was the same problem that caused a 2016 power outage that affected the entire island.

Geraldo Quinones, a power company spokesman, said in a phone interview that crews are investigating why the breaker failed.

Rivera said he worries that such serious power outages are still occurring as the new Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1, approaches.

“If there’s a slight storm, we’re going to be worse off than we are right now,” he said.

Federal officials who testified before Congress last week said they expect to have a plan by June on how to strengthen and stabilize the island’s power grid, noting that up to 75 percent of distribution lines were damaged by high winds and flooding. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the federal power restoration efforts, said they hope to have the entire island fully energized by May. Some 40,000 power customers still remain without normal electrical service as a result of the hurricane.

The new blackout occurred as Puerto Rico legislators debate a bill that would privatize the island’s power company, which is $14 billion in debt and relies on infrastructure nearly three times older than the industry average.</s>Puerto Rico residents haven't had it easy lately. Back in September, Hurricane Maria tore across the island, knocking out power island-wide and leaving dozens dead or wounded.

While the US government and companies like Tesla have successfully stepped in to help Puerto Rico get its electrical grid back up and running, 10 percent of the island's citizens were still without power as of February 2018.

Unfortunately, bad luck has struck Puerto Rico again. According to an Associated Press report, the territory is suffering yet another island-wide blackout. This time, the outage was reportedly caused by an excavator "accidentally [downing]" a transmission line.

It's certainly troubling that damage to a single power line can cause an island-wide blackout but there's good news this time around - Puerto Rico officials say it will only take "24 to 36" hours to restore power to the majority of affected citizens.

For now, Puerto Rico's government is prioritizing the restoration of power to critical locations like hospitals, emergency service buildings, airports and water pumping systems. This is a smart move, given the fact that many of these locations are currently relying on backup generators to function.</s>Puerto Rico was hit by an island-wide blackout Wednesday when...</s>An island-wide blackout has hit Puerto Rico, which is struggling with an increasingly unstable power grid nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory</s>Puerto Rico is plunged into an island-wide blackout yet again

The devastation caused by Hurricane Maria has yet to be fully addressed in Puerto Rico, but now, the island is contending with yet another power-related problem. On Wednesday, an islandwide blackout plunged Puerto Rico into darkness.

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This post was syndicated from Digital Trends. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>The Associated Press

 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the U.S. territory struggles to repair an increasingly unstable power grid nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria. Officials said an excavator accidentally downed a transmission line.

Officials said it could take 24 to 36 hours to fully restore power to more than 1.4 million customers as outrage grew across the island about the state of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority. It is the second major outage in less than a week, with the previous one affecting some 840,000 customers.

“This is too much,” said Luis Oscar Rivera, a 42-year-old computer technician who just got normal power back at his house less than two months ago. “It’s like the first day of Maria all over again.”

Several large power outages have hit Puerto Rico in recent months, but Wednesday was the first time since the Category 4 storm struck on Sept. 20 that the U.S. territory has experienced a full island-wide blackout. It snarled traffic across the island, interrupted classes and work and forced dozens of businesses to temporarily close, including the island’s largest mall and popular tourist attractions like a 16th-century fort in the historic part of Puerto Rico’s capital.

Backup generators roared to life at the island’s largest public hospital and at its main international airport, where officials reported no cancellations or delays. Meanwhile, the power company said its own customer service center was out of service and asked people to go online or use the phone.

Officials said restoring power to hospitals, airports, banking centers and water pumping systems was their priority. Following that would be businesses and then homes.

Carmen Yulin Cruz, mayor of the capital of San Juan, said the outage would not interrupt the last of a two-game series between the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins, which is being played on the island. She said all emergency systems at Hiram Bithorn stadium are functioning and that tower lights and additional security will be placed at the stadium’s parking lot.

Justo Gonzalez, the power company’s executive sub-director, told reporters that a private contractor removing a collapsed tower during unrelated power restoration efforts near the south coast hit the transmission line on Wednesday with an excavator.

“We are working in areas that are quite crowded with high voltage lines,” he said.

It is the second such incident in less than a week. On Thursday, a tree fell on a power line as the same private contractor cleared land in central Puerto Rico, leading to a widespread power outage. A backup line that was supposed to prevent that outage failed.

Fredyson Martinez, vice president of a union that represents power company workers in Puerto Rico, told The Associated Press that he was concerned about the two back-to-back incidents.

“That is not normal,” he said.

Government officials said that a company hired by Cobra Energy known as Dgrimm was involved in both incidents that led to the power outages. Dgrimm had been asked to change its security protocols after the first incident, and it has since been terminated, said William Rios, power generation director.

“This is unacceptable for us,” he said, adding that government attorneys are meeting with officials at Cobra Energy, a Mammoth Energy subsidiary hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help with power restoration efforts.

Angel Figueroa, president of the power workers’ union, told reporters workers are investigating why a backup breaker at a main power station in the island’s southern region did not function when the outage occurred, causing the entire electrical grid to shut down to protect itself. He noted it was the same problem that caused a 2016 power outage that affected the entire island.

Geraldo Quinones, a power company spokesman, said in a phone interview that crews are investigating why the breaker failed.

Rivera said he worries that such serious power outages are still occurring as the new Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1, approaches.

“If there’s a slight storm, we’re going to be worse off than we are right now,” he said.

Federal officials who testified before Congress last week said they expect to have a plan by June on how to strengthen and stabilize the island’s power grid, noting that up to 75 percent of distribution lines were damaged by high winds and flooding. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the federal power restoration efforts, said they hope to have the entire island fully energized by May. Some 40,000 power customers still remain without normal electrical service as a result of the hurricane.

The new blackout occurred as Puerto Rico legislators debate a bill that would privatize the island’s power company, which is $14 billion in debt and relies on infrastructure nearly three times older than the industry average.</s>Puerto Rico In The Midst Of An Island-Wide Blackout

The power outage was caused by heavy machinery that was being used to remove a collapsed transmission tower. Power is expected to be restored over the next day and a half.</s>Puerto Rico is back in the dark.

The island nation lost power Wednesday and was expected to be in the dark for 24 to 36 hours, according to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

A single power line originating in Aguirre caused the entire electric system to go down, plunging the island into darkness, according to Telemundo PR.

INTERACTIVE: How long has Puerto Rico been without full power?

The blackout came seven months after Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico, devastating the island.</s>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico >> An island-wide blackout has hit Puerto Rico, which is struggling with an increasingly unstable power grid nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico >> An island-wide blackout has hit Puerto Rico, which is struggling with an increasingly unstable power grid nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory.

Electric Power Authority spokeswoman Yohari Molina tells The Associated Press that crews are investigating the cause. Officials said today it could take 24 to 36 hours to fully restore power.

It’s the first time since Category 4 storm hit on Sept. 20 that Puerto Rico has experienced a full island-wide blackout.

Some 40,000 power customers were still without normal electricity service as a result of the hurricane.</s>Puerto Rico, which has been suffering the second-largest blackout in history since Hurricane Maria made landfall back in September 2017, is now completely without power. On Wednesday, the island nation’s misfortunes took a turn for the worse when, per the Associated Press, the entire country was hit by an island-wide blackout. According to Electric Power Authority spokesperson Yohari Molina, crews are currently investigating the cause of the massive blackout. CBS News later added that a fault was detected in a line in Puerto Rico’s Central Aguirre, which is located on the southern coast.

CNN subsequently confirmed the AP’s initial report, noting that the United States Commonwealth’s struggle to fully restore power and other basic essentials marked it as the worst long-term power outage in American history. As for its all-time second place status, experts estimate that Puerto Rico’s ongoing power loss (3.4 billion lost hours of electricity) is fast approaching the current record holder, Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated Southeast Asia and the Philippines in 2013 with a whopping 6.1 billion hours lost.

The current island-wide blackout means that airports, hospitals, and other necessary and basic means are all without power in Puerto Rico. Considering what recent studies determined about the federal government’s response (President Trump focused more of his efforts on Texas and the Gulf Coast, while FEMA largely remained silent), that power had not been fully restored before Wednesday’s complete outage isn’t all that surprising. Before the blackout, 40,000 Puerto Rican customers were still without power since Hurricane Maria made landfall seven months ago.
Puerto Rico experiences an island-wide blackout after an excavator accidentally downs a transmission line.