Puerto Rico suffered a major power outage Wednesday as the island continues to face challenges restoring and maintaining electricity 56 days after Hurricane Maria.
Justo Gonzalez Torres, the director of generation at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, said in a statement that a technical failure in Unit 7 of the San Juan Central plant caused the outage.
According to Gonzalez Torres, a breakdown in the system caused outages in areas including Bayamon, Guaynabo, San Juan, Carolina and surrounding municipalities.
He said PREPA’s technical staff is working to restore electric service “as soon as possible.”
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello had tweeted earlier Wednesday that crews had restored 50 percent of the island’s power, an important marker nearly 60 days after Maria struck the island.
“In the next few hours we hope to start connecting customers who lost the service with the failure and continue with the customer connection plan to comply with the other goals established by the governor,” Gonzalez Torres said.
