Puerto Rico’s power grid collapses, leaving island in the dark on New Year’s Eve

Puerto Ricans were without electricity on New Year’s Eve after a grid failure left nearly all of the island without power.

Around 87 per cent of clients were without power at 1pm on Tuesday, according to a statement from energy distribution company Luma Energy. Puerto Rico has long dealt with chronic power outages as its infrastructure crumbles.

It is likely to take 24 to 48 hours to turn the lights back on, Luma said in a statement. It added later that power had been restored to some critical facilities, including Centro Medico and Municipal Hospital in San Juan.

“While the cause of the outage is under investigation, preliminary findings point to a failure in an underground line,” Luma added.

Ivan Baez, a spokesman for power generator Genera, called the grid failure a “major incident” in a local radio interview.

He said that the line believed to have failed was operated by Luma and brought down plants belonging to Genera as well as private generators.