Puerto Rico in darkness following blackout

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep. (AA) – Utility crews in Puerto Rico are working to restore electricity after a blackout left the entire island in darkness, authorities said Thursday.

The outage occurred late Wednesday following a fire at power stations that knocked out the entire grid that distributes service to the island’s 3.4 million residents, according to the Power Electric Authorities (AEE).

As of Thursday morning, service had been restored to just 130,000 customers and, barring any mishaps, more than half of the island could have power by the afternoon, the company said via Twitter.

"We can assure that we are working to restore service in the safest way. We hope that everything comes to normal on Friday,” it added.

AEE Executive Director Javier Quintana said crews have been working through the night to integrate small units of gas turbines. They will then proceed to integrate large ones.

"As they (units) enter the system, then we will be able to be recover a greater number of customers," Quintana said at a press conference with the island’s Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

The power outage forced the closure of universities and public schools. It has also undermined operations at public and private agencies.

"All public hospitals are operational, although appointments of elective surgery and others were canceled until further notice", Padilla said.

The blackout is the worst to hit Puerto Rico in the last 36 years.