By Staff, Agencies

A massive islandwide power outage plunged Puerto Rico into darkness on Wednesday, affecting all 1.4 million clients just as residents and tourists were preparing for Easter weekend celebrations.

Luma Energy, responsible for power transmission and distribution, confirmed the scale of the blackout and began restoring service, reaching nearly 100,000 clients by late evening — only about 7% of those affected. The disruption also left more than 328,000 residents without water.

Hotels near full capacity scrambled to calm visiting tourists, relying on generators to maintain basic services.

Major businesses, including the Caribbean's largest mall, were forced to shut down, while sporting events were canceled, and traffic gridlock worsened as police officers stepped in to manage intersections. Commuters were even seen walking on rail tracks due to suspended transit services.

Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez, cutting short a vacation to address the crisis, expressed outrage: “It is unacceptable that we have a failure of this magnitude.” She pledged to cancel Luma Energy’s contract, though she acknowledged the process would take time.

An official investigation into the cause of the outage has been launched, with concerns mounting over the island’s preparedness for peak summer demand.

Puerto Ricans expressed deep frustration over yet another widespread outage — the latest in a long series since Hurricane Maria devastated the power grid in 2017. The lingering crisis has triggered calls to cancel contracts with Luma and Genera PR, which oversees power generation.

“This is a total disaster,” said one resident, Orlando Huertas. Others, like Carmen Suriel, worried about vulnerable family members as temperatures rose and generators failed. “I’m desperate,” she said, holding her infant and five-year-old child with Down syndrome.

Despite federal efforts under the Biden administration to provide resources and push renewable energy, over 60% of Puerto Rico's power still comes from petroleum, with only 7% from renewables. Many residents, especially those living in poverty — which affects over 40% of the island’s 3.2 million people — cannot afford solar panels or backup generators.

The White House has offered federal support, and Puerto Rico’s congressional representative, Pablo Jose Hernandez, vowed to ensure Washington takes the island’s energy crisis seriously. “After years of blackouts, it feels like it’s going from bad to worse,” he said.

Puerto Rico’s last full blackout occurred just a few months ago on New Year’s Eve — a sign that for many residents, the lights are still far from staying on.