Only 16 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents have regained electricity in the three weeks since Hurricane Maria devastated the Caribbean Sept. 20.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane and knocked out power, cellphone service, and the island’s clean water — much of which still is unavailable despite recovery efforts.
The U.S. territory’s primary power supplier, the Electric Power Authority, reported fewer than one-in-six people have power as of Tuesday.
Números actualizados al 10 de octubre para la labor de recuperación del huracán #Maria en Puerto Rico. Más detalles en status.pr pic.twitter.com/ditpV9nZCw
— FEMA en español (@FEMAespanol) October 10, 2017
Two-thirds of Authority of Aqueducts and Sewers of Puerto Rico’s customers have access to clean water.
Around one-third of cellphone towers and 53 percent of telecommunications are working, according to the island’s recovery website.
Roughly 78 percent of the 1,100 gas stations are open and providing fuel to customers. Eighty-six percent of the 456 grocery stores have reopened.
However, more than 6,000 people remain in 112 shelters.
Approximately 55 percent of bank branches are open and 560 ATMs are running, though the governor, Ricardo Rossello, has warned Congress the island faces a liquidity crisis.
It’s the first time in 85 years a hurricane of this level has hit the island, similar to the size of New York’s Long Island.
The mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital thinks the island’s 3.5 million residents will likely be without power for as long as six months.
“The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there,” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told MSNBC. “We’re looking at 4 to 6 months without electricity.”
