Prolonged power outage in Puerto Rico angers and worries many during heat advisories

COAMO, Puerto Rico (AP) — Cities in central and southern Puerto Rico are struggling to emerge from a prolonged power outage that forced authorities in the U.S. territory to activate an emergency response team Monday and to request a distribution of food to those who need it.

The outage occurred more than a week ago, leaving tens of thousands of customers without power after a transformer collapsed that was twice its useful life.

Officials with Luma Energy, which manages transmission and distribution on behalf of Puerto Rico’s electric authority, said repairs could take more than a month. The announcement sparked widespread anger, especially as the outage disrupted water service and comes amid daily warnings of excessive heat as the Atlantic hurricane season has just begun .

Some politicians are demanding that Governor Pedro Pierluisi declare a state of emergency.

“The residents of Santa Isabel, Coamo and Aibonito cannot bear another day without electricity,” Puerto Rican Senator Héctor Santiago Torres said Monday, referring to cities in the central and southern regions of the Caribbean island. “This situation is untenable.”

More than 40 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million residents live below the poverty line, and not everyone can afford generators or replace expensive electrical appliances damaged by outages.

“My refrigerator broke down because of the voltage problems, so I had to throw out all the spoiled food,” said Carmen Franco, 68, as she spoke over the roar of generators in the city of Coamo, in the south of the country, where she joined dozens of people waiting for free delivery. lunch Saturday.

Authorities transformed a music school into a huge kitchen where people cooked rice and chicken, delivering hundreds of lunches to hard-to-reach areas of the city, where nearly a fifth of the population is over 65 years.

“Obviously we are not prepared for this,” Coamo Mayor Juan Carlos García Padilla said of the ongoing outages. He told The Associated Press that residents are already struggling with a high cost of living. “They have nothing left to save.”

One resident, Carlos Ávila, 51, said he had difficulty reaching his cardiologist over the weekend to get a prescription at the pharmacy because phone lines were down due to power outages: “I Waited over a week to get my blood pressure prescription refilled.

Chronic power outages have plagued Puerto Rico since Hurricane María struck in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm and leveled the island’s already fragile grid. But the most recent outage lasted longer than most others.

Puerto Rico relies on power plants that use coal, oil and natural gas to produce about 97% of the island’s electricity, and efforts to transition to renewable energy have been lagging.

Additionally, a federal control board that oversees the island’s finances has challenged the net metering policy, which pays solar-equipped households for their contribution to the grid, arguing that it undermines the independence of energy regulators. Solar energy advocates warn that this challenge could hamper the adoption of rooftop solar and battery systems, particularly for low-income communities, jeopardizing the island’s progress toward its energy goals. renewable energies.

No decision on the legal challenge has been made.

Madelyn Vives, a 52-year-old caretaker and mother of two, said the outages hit Puerto Rico’s elderly population hardest. Her father, who cannot walk, lives in a house where she comes more often to bring him food.

“I try to eat as many lunches as possible to feed my family, but if I get just one, it goes to my dad,” she said.