PUERTO RICO – An excavator is to blame for an island-wide power outage that has left millions in the dark, according to officials with knowledge of the situation.
This is the second outage of the week, with the first one leaving nearly 85,000 people without power.
Full restoration could take 1-2 days, according to Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority.
The Authority said hospitals, banking centers, airports and water pumping systems will be restored first.
The new blackout occurred as Puerto Rico legislators debate a bill that would privatize the island’s power company, which is $14 billion in debt and relies on infrastructure nearly three times older than the industry average.