Power has been restored to the final home in Puerto Rico that had lost power due to Hurricane Maria nearly a year after the natural disaster, a new report says.
According to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, a family in Ponce has power once again and all energy customers of the island have had their power restored, ABC News reports.
Power was completely revived 328 days after the hurricane ravaged the area.
100% of energy customers in #PuertoRico that lost power after Hurricane #Maria now have electricity restored, PREPA confirms to @ABC News. A family in Ponce became the last group of customers to receive electricity 328 days after the storm hit the island.
— Joshua Hoyos (@JoshuaHoyos) August 14, 2018
The development comes after the government of Puerto Rico disclosed in a report to Congress last week that more than 1,400 people were killed as a result of the hurricane last year.
Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said a separate report looking at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the natural disaster “provides a transformative roadmap” moving forward.
The agency admitted it miscalculated the havoc Hurricane Maria would have on the island and its “insufficiently maintained infrastructure.” Additionally, the report also included details that FEMA’s planning was not adequate and that it did not sufficiently prepare for several disasters, given that Hurricane Maria came shortly after other powerful hurricanes.
“With every response or recovery effort, we take with us lessons learned that help build a nation-wide culture of preparedness and shape the way FEMA and the emergency management community respond to and recover from future disasters,” Nielsen said in a statement in July.
