The power system throughout Puerto Rico suffered a massive blackout on Wednesday due to a fire at the Costa Sur power plant and service may take between 12 and 24 hours to restore.
Firefighters from the southern municipalities of Ponce and Guayanilla displaced to the place managed to extinguish the fire and are now working on “cooling”, the Fire Department Negotiate reported on Twitter.
Despite this, as Efe found, the power outage continues in areas of San Juan and the surrounding area.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi reported on Twitter that there was “a critical breakdown in the South Central” that has caused the entire electric power system to “be protected and put out of service.”
“Preliminarily it is estimated that it will take approximately 12 to 24 hours to restore service, giving priority to hospital and essential services,” he explained.
A video released by the Electric Power Authority (ESA) shows the fire in South Coast Unit 5, while another shows firefighters working on the spot.
The ESA noted that, due to the fire, “the electrical protection system took out of service the rest of the units they were generating.”
For its part, the company responsible for the distribution of electricity, LUMA Energy, said in a statement that the blackout was “potentially caused by a failure in a circuit breaker at the Costa Sur generation plant” but that at the moment they are “unclear about the exact cause.”
“LUMA teams are responding and working to restore service as quickly as possible. Given the size and scope of the blackout, the restoration of power could be extended until tomorrow,” he added.
Hospitals are running on generators and, according to Health Secretary Carlos Mellado, they have “sufficient fuel supplies and no major problems are reported.”
Blackouts are common in Puerto Rico, but usually they do not last very long.
(With information from EFE)
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