Posted on 09/23/2016 10:47:35 AM PDT by Lorianne
The 3.5 million people of Puerto Rico are entering their second day with no power after a substation fire knocked out service to the entire island. The power outage has left schools scrambling to cancel classes and public hospitals forced to cancel surgeries.
Perhaps even worse, the outage caused numerous fires across the island as a result of malfunctioning generators, including at the upscale Vanderbilt hotel in the popular tourist area of Condado and at the mayor’s office in the northern coastal town of Catano.
While Puerto Rico's Governor Padilla and the utility's CEO, Javier Quintana, have said they expect service to be restored by this morning, many Puerto Ricans are dubious saying that the economic slump has affected the government's ability to maintain basic infrastructure. According to the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of people took to social media to criticize the Electric Power Authority, noting they already pay bills on average twice that of the U.S. mainland.
The fire apparently started at this sub-station in Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico.
PUERTO RICO: Nationwide blackout reported in all of PR due to a massive fire at power plant, leaving 1.5 million people without power. VIDEO pic.twitter.com/bnM59irSv3
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) September 21, 2016
Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames but the damage has still not been repaired leaving millions without power.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Talked to folks in P.R. this morning. Many areas of the island now have power.
And that took out the whole island?
Constantly spending more than you receive in revenues.
Third World mentality.
I think you've hit upon it. They just need to hang on another week.
I think you've hit upon it. They just need to hang on another week.
Can you imagine the chaos and rioting if EBT cards didn't get recharged in NYC, Philly or another major American city?
Yes I can. I've seen The Walking Dead.
A failed commonwealth. I guess Operation Bootstrap needs rebooting.
If power was out on the entire island, how were people able to “take to social media” to criticize? Were the ISP’s on generator?
None - other than the usual ID required to board a plane. Puerto Rico is a US territory, and Puerto Ricans are US citizens.
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