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COAMO, Puerto Rico (AP) — Cities in central and southern Puerto Rico are struggling to emerge from prolonged power outages that forced authorities in the U.S. territory to activate an emergency response team Monday and order food distribution to those in need.
The outage occurred more than a week ago, causing power outages to tens of thousands of customers after the collapse of a transformer that had exceeded its useful life twice.
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Officials with Luma Energy, which manages transmission and distribution for the Puerto Rico Energy Authority, said repairs could take more than a month. This announcement sparked widespread anger, especially since the outage disrupted water service and comes amid daily warnings of excessive heat, with the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean.
Some politicians are calling on state governor Pedro Pierluisi to declare a state of emergency.
“The residents of Santa Isabel, Coamo and Aibonito cannot endure another day without electricity,” Hector Santiago Torres, a Puerto Rican senator, said on Monday, referring to towns located in the central and southern regions of the Caribbean island. “This situation is not sustainable.”
More than 40% of Puerto Rico's 3.2 million people live below the poverty level, and not everyone can afford generators or replace expensive electrical appliances damaged by power outages.
“My refrigerator broke down due to power problems, so I had to throw out all the spoiled food,” Carmen Franco, 68, said as she spoke amid the roar of generators in the southern town of Como, where she joined dozens waiting for free assistance. Lunch on Saturday.
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Officials have converted the music school into a huge kitchen where people cook 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.
“It is clear that we are not prepared for this,” Como Mayor Juan Carlos Garcia Padilla said of the ongoing power outages. Residents are already suffering from high costs of living, he told the Associated Press. “They don't have anything left to save.”
One resident, Carlos Avila, 51, said he struggled to reach his cardiologist over the weekend to get a prescription sent to the pharmacy because the phone lines were down as a result of the power outage: “I waited over a week to get a prescription.” medical”. My blood pressure prescription was refilled.
Puerto Rico has been plagued by chronic power outages since Hurricane Maria struck in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm and devastated the island's already fragile grid. But the latest outage lasted longer than most.
Puerto Rico relies on power plants that use coal, oil and natural gas to generate about 97% of the island's electricity, and efforts to transition to renewable energy are progressing slowly.
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In addition, the federal oversight board that oversees the island's finances has objected to the net metering policy, which compensates solar-equipped households for their contributions to the grid, arguing that it undermines the independence of energy regulators. Solar advocates warn that the challenge could hinder the adoption of rooftop solar and battery systems, especially for low-income communities, jeopardizing the island's progress toward renewable energy goals.
No ruling was issued on the legal appeal.
Madeleine Vives, a 52-year-old mother of two, said the power outages hit the elderly in Puerto Rico the most. Her father, who cannot walk, lives in a house that she visits often to bring him food.
“I try to get as many lunches as possible to feed my family, but if I only get one meal, it goes to my parents,” she said.
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