Nearly all of Puerto Rico is without power on New Year's Eve


Nearly all of Puerto Rico is without power on New Year

BY DÁNICA COTO Updated 8:22 AM GMT+5, January 1, 2025 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early on Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s, leaving more than 1.3 million clients in the dark. Officials said it could take up to two days to restore power. The outage hit at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as electrical appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators turned them on. “It had to be on the 31st of December!” exclaimed one man, who only gave his name as Manuel, as he stood outside a grocery store in the capital of San Juan, grumbling about the outage that coincided with his birthday. “There is no happiness.” Nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were left in the dark, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution. By late Tuesday night, more than 700,000 clients, including 16 hospitals and Puerto Rico’s water and sewer company, had power back, according to Luma. However, the company’s webpage detailing who remained without power was down. “We understand the deep frustration this outage has caused, especially on a day like today,” Luma said in a statement. “We apologize for the disruption to your plans.”