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Most of PR without electricity

Gary
#1
Since an hour or two the electricity is down on most of the island including big cities like San Juan, Mayaguez etc.

It looks like a a main distribution station or a main distribution cable in Aguirre is the cause of the problem. Officials said they hope that power will be restored by tomorrow, others think it might take longer.

Or generator is humming and there's enough gas for a couple of days -- it's the peak of the hurricane season after  all (although it has been quiet.

For years experts have been warning that something like this was going to happen and urged for increasing the funds for maintenance. Well, here we are...
See also
Gary
#2
http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/loca … o-2243468/
ReyP
#3
Sounds like a build in single point of failure. It is a shame that one station failure takes out most of the island. Bad engineering is what it sounds like.
Hard to get more gas if gas stations do not have their own generators

Hope they have the parts otherwise it may be 2 weeks before heavy parts arrive by boat.
Gary
#4
Yeah, that should not be possible but hey,  this is Puerto Rico.
Gas stations have generators, they know the drill. The problem is going to be in the cities where many people and businesses do not have a generator. Here out in the boonies we are used to be without power and we can deal with it.

I heard on TV that at least one generator on the intl. airport broke down and not all airlines are able to operate.  Why am I not surprised.
The rush hour is going to be, let's say, interesting..

Let's see how this develops.
frogrock
#5
No electricity here in Humacao. I have my stash of candles ready for tonight.
ReyP
#6
But you have Internet, as long as battery last in laptop you are set, :lol:
frogrock
#7
I am sitting in my car charging my telephone.  As long as the rum lasts, there will be no reason to panic.
Gary
#8
We are having a cool white wine right now. Good thing it wasn't very hot today, sleeping w/o fans will work tonight. Gotta find a couple of coils to keep the mosquitos away..
Gary
#9
Looks like the generator of our ISP gave up. Good thing there's backup via Sprint. :D
ReyP
#10
Frogrock has the right attitude
ReyP
#11
I have a feeling that a lot of members may not be online for a day or two, so grab a cool drink, eat all the ice cream before it melts and cook all the meat in the freezer before it goes bad. Some candles, the rum, all the cooked food, and a great domino game with friends.
Gary
#12
Getting ready for dinner here. Panas and serenata de bacalao. Another glass of white wine to go with it, of course. Life is good :D
ReyP
#13
Save me some of the panas and bacalao
Gary
#14
Come over, there's plenty. :)
ReyP
#15
For those working from home in PR you need to let the boss know you had no electricity today and maybe not for a few more days,  :D
ReyP
#16
Looks like some people may be without water also because of lack of generators at pump stations.
Gary
#17

ReyP wrote:

Looks like some people may be without water also because of lack of generators at pump stations.


We still have water, so far, so good..

ReyP
#18

Gary wrote:
ReyP wrote:

Looks like some people may be without water also because of lack of generators at pump stations.


We still have water, so far, so good..


Article in El Nuevo Día

ReyP
#19
I imagine a lot of people will be pissed, no traffic lights, making a nightmare commute, malls and stores closed, university and other schools closed, the metro train closed some people needing somebody to pick them up since train not running, no fans, no air conditioners, food spoilage, some people with no water, ATMs down.
What a lovely day!
Governor say it may take 24 hours to repair, I say he is likely over promising, may take longer. News paper mentioned the governor used the word sabotage, but not sure in what sense it was used, article did not addressed it, just mentioned.
ReyP
#20
Some US and International news centers are carrying the news of the blackout. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/th … story.html
Schuttzie
#21
Prayers for everyone's health and safety!  I heard some in Rincon had their power restored only to have the water then turn off :(
boricanroots
#22
Rey, everything you said would happen, did. Sad that this just adds to the stress the island is already under.
ReyP
#23

boricanroots wrote:

Rey, everything you said would happen, did. Sad that this just adds to the stress the island is already under.


It could become a positive if the politicians play their cards right. After something like this it will be harder for the board to take all the money out to pay the bond holders. But who knows.

ReyP
#24
One death so far, the person was running a generator inside the house and the exhaust got to him. Call to 911 was made and ambulance took a while to get there (9 minutes) he was declared dead there.

Apparently a letter to the president has been sent request ion PR be declared a disaster/emergency zone. Calls to FEMA and Energy Department are in the works asking for food, bottled water and funds to deal with the emergency.

If they are asking for these, that must mean that the issue is not expected to be resolved by Friday morning unlike what the Governot stated to the news organizations.

Even after the burn units are fixed I expect the rest of the system to be stressed, so IMHO  rolling outages are likely until all stabilizes in a week or more. I could be wrong.

I wonder what they will do about a Huracán, we are not out of the woods until mid to late November.
ReyP
#25
News update: english http://www.elnuevodia.com/english/engli … y-2243889/
Gary
#26
Today was worse. We woke up to find we don't have water. Still no power and no regular internet.

Another night without fans ahead, I just shut down the generator for the day.

Of course what the governor promised didn't happen. Around 20℅ of the households have power according to the last info I have.

Good night, good thing is it's not too warm up here..
boricanroots
#27
Sending up prayers for all of you.
Schuttzie
#28
Oh, I'm so sorry everyone on island!
ReyP
#29
It is sad that in PR we just take it, a place like North Carolina would be all up in Arms about the government inability to protect the public and provide basic services.

Mean time AEE is likely to raise their rates again and pilfer the money to cover repairs and maintenance that they should have done over the last 11 years, they charge twice as much as many other states.

Las night the governor was supposed to address the island, I have not found anything on the papers yet as to his message.

According to the AEE, they were on track to get about 1/2 of the homes back with electricity before the sun comes out (out of 1.4 million homes). However I am sure the number is not likely to reach that high. In my opinion the fix will be in place by Sunday.

We shall see.

PS. You may see some activity by students of the UPR, this would be normal, while the school is closed due to lack of electricity, the celebration of "Grito de Lares" is likely to raise a number of the students. This was a movement for independence from Spain on Sept 23rd 1868. Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grito_de_Lares.
Gary
#30
Update: power came back around midnight but it has been down again since around 8 AM.
The good news is that water came back on just now.

To be continued...
Sitka
#31
We live in Hatillo, the power was off Wed about 4PM and was back on at our house about 12 hours later - I guess we were lucky.   On Thursday, we were booked to fly out of SJ.  We made our flight OK, the airport was without power, no AC, really miserable in the airport, but the flight was on time and we were able to fly. 

Considering the fact we pay one of the highest power rates in the US, it is really unacceptable to have such bad service.

I hope you all get service restored ASAP!
Schuttzie
#32
Thanks for the updates!
boricanroots
#33
I'm glad to hear the water is starting to flow again, that worried me.
Gary
#34
After another blackout that only lasted 2 hours everything works again over here.

According to an article in El Nuevo Dia two units failed (http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/loca … e-2244221/)

There are are still a couple of hundred thousands households without power, they expect to have them back up and running by tomorrow.
Gary
#35

boricanroots wrote:

I'm glad to hear the water is starting to flow again, that worried me.


We're used to that here on the island. Many houses, especially in rural areas, have water tanks/cisterns to keep them going for a couple of days. The same goes for condominiums.

This time of year - peak of the hurricane season! - people should be prepared and have water, drinking water, food and, if you can afford it, a generator ready for use.
After a hurricane it's normal to be without water and electricity for weeks.

chrishamrick103
#36
Yep, so I planned my trip to PR to find a rental. Got there at 7:30pm on Wednesday to no power. After I learned about what happened I knew it wasn't going to be a speedy recovery, I ended up just flying back to Atlanta on Thursday. From what I'm reading it seems the power is still out?

For those of you that had no running water, and even those of you that did. Be careful to boil it for extra precaution. Power went out in Atlanta some months ago and the govt informed us to boil the water due to it sitting and bacteria growing.
Gary
#37
Latest info: 300,000 households are still without electricity.
ReyP
#38

Gary wrote:

Latest info: 300,000 households are still without electricity.


Still a long way to go before normal. I bet on Sunday before normal, (5,000) a day no power somewhere in the island.

Schuttzie
#39
Oh, wow, Chris!  So sorry you had to turn back around and go home :(
Gary
#40
According to the power company around 18,000 customers still don't have electricity, most of them in the San Juan area.
The water company still needs to restore service for around 50,000 households.

Hopefully they get that done soon. Nothing is more frustrating than reading news like this knowing you are among the few that still don't have been reconnected.BTDT after tropical storm Jeanne back in 2005...

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