Puerto Rico Hit by Island-Wide Power Blackout

A general view shows buildings after Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the island's power company, said Wednesday that a major power line failure in southern Puerto Rico cut electricity to almost all customers, in San Juan, Puerto Rico April 18, 2018. REUTERS/Gabriel Lopez Albarran

cnn.com - by Ray Sanchez and Leyla Santiago - April 18, 2018

With most of Puerto Rico in the dark Wednesday night, Gov. Ricardo Rossello said in a tweet that he has suggested Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority cancel its contract with a subcontractor that caused an island-wide power outage.

An excavator operated by D. Grimm, a subcontractor for Cobra Acquisitions, apparently caused the blackout, which originated at a major transmission line running between Salinas and Guayama in the southeast, according to the authority . . .

 . . . As of 8 p.m., only 334,000 customers in the US commonwealth had electricity again. Power was to be restored to customers who had electricity before the latest outage within 24 to 36 hours, the authority said.

This is the latest setback as power officials try to restore power to the nearly 1.4 million customers who lost electric service during Hurricane Maria nearly seven months ago. Most of the island had had its power restored as the commonwealth rebuilt its decimated electrical grid.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - Most of Puerto Rico still without power)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Puerto Rico hit by island-wide power blackout

CLICK HERE - Puerto Rico hit by first island-wide blackout since Hurricane Maria