Puerto Rico Blackout Persists Amid High Temperatures, Residents Angry

Puerto Rico has had a massive electricity problem for years and it reared its ugly head again as a massive and prolonged blackout ravaged the US territory's central and southern portions, causing a variety of problems for the island's residents.

According to the Associated Press, the power outage began over a week ago, and it happened after a transformer that twice exceeded its useful life collapsed. This has left tens of thousands of residents without any electricity for days.

Luma Energy, the US territory's embattled electricity utility company, admitted that repairs could take over a month. As expected, this has caused widespread anger, especially as Puerto Rico is under daily excessive heat warnings.

The Puerto Rico blackouts are also affecting the US territory's water supply, as the water service on the island heavily relies on electrical power. Because of the lack of water and electricity, Governor Pedro Pierluisi is now under pressure to declare a state of emergency.

"The people of Santa Isabel, Coamo, and Aibonito cannot endure another day without electricity," said Puerto Rico Sen. Hector Santiago Torres in a statement regarding the most affected towns by the blackout. "This situation is unsustainable."

When Hurricane Maria hit the island back in 2017, it badly damaged the US territory's power grid. To this day, Puerto Rico has suffered blackouts that have been caused by various reasons, from other hurricanes to generators just simply giving out. The situation is made more complicated thanks to its energy provider being caught in various scandals.

Puerto Rico Residents Forced To Throw Away Rotting Food Because of the Blackout

On the ground level, people are suffering thanks to the massive blackout, especially as over 40% of Puerto Rico's 3.2 million people live below the poverty level and cannot afford generators or replace costly electric appliances that have been damaged by the constant power outages.

"My fridge broke because of the voltage issues, so I had to throw away all the spoiled food," Carmen Franco, 68, stated The blackouts have left residents without food in their fridge as many have been forced to throw them away due to rot.

However, ABC News noted that the government is distributing food to those affected, with a music school being transformed into a kitchen to give out food. They even deliver hundreds of lunches to hard-to-reach areas in the town.

Puerto Rico Residents Pushing for Solar Energy

With its myriad of electricity problems, Puerto Rico residents are now turning to much greener sources of energy, such as solar.

This can be seen in the coastal communities of Guayama and Salinas where a 52-year-old oil-fired power plant and a 22-year-old coal-fired power plant are both located. However, these plants are not very popular as residents claim they "contaminate their drinking water and air, and harm people's health."

The towns have received a portion of the $440 million in funding for rooftop solar energy in Puerto Rico given by the US federal government in November of last year, with the government acknowledging the environmental impacts made by the plants. The towns are also slowly replacing their aging coal plants with brand-new solar ones.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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