Power is restored to much of Puerto Rico after an island-wide blackout caused by a fire

Puerto Rico braces for another blackout 3:28 (CNN) — Puerto Rico’s power has been restored to 99.7% of LUMA Energy customers on the island, the utility said Sunday, after that hundreds of thousands of homes were left in the dark by a blackout due to a fire at a power plant since Wednesday night. “Electric service had been restored to almost all of the nearly 1.5 million customers,” LUMA said in a statement on its website. Crews continue to work “to stabilize the electrical system and address any pending service interruptions,” the statement added. The problem began as an island-wide blackout that closed schools and courts for days and caused other disruptions for the 3.2 million residents of the US territory. LUMA said late Saturday that power had been restored to 1.3 million customers and a full restoration was possible on Sunday. The massive blackout began around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when an unspecified fault caused a fire at the Costa Sur Substation, said Kevin Acevedo, vice president of LUMA Energy. Since then, firefighters have extinguished the flames at the facility outside the town of Guayanilla on the southwest coast. The exact cause was not immediately known, the utility company said. CNN cameraman describes how the massive blackout was experienced in Puerto Rico 2:02 Initially, all customers were left without power “because all the generating units were disconnected,” according to Josué Colón, the island’s leading telecommunications and infrastructure engineer. In addition to power outages, the blackout also caused the interruption of water service to tens of thousands of homes and businesses, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said, citing the island’s aqueduct and sewer authority. Schools across the island also canceled classes for students on Thursday and Friday, though principals, custodians and school cafeteria employees were told to report to work on Friday, the island’s education department said. . By Thursday afternoon, all hospitals were operational either by power restoration or by generators, said Interior Secretary Noelia García Bardales. Puerto Rican flags hang from a balcony in San Juan after a major power outage hit the island on Wednesday. (Credit: RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images) Puerto Rico investigates fire that caused blackout As lights go on in remaining homes and businesses, little is known about the cause of the fire that plunged the island into darkness. . “We understand that many are wondering how and why such a large outage occurred,” LUMA President and CEO Wayne Stensby said in Sunday’s statement. “We have begun a detailed investigation of this event and will be fully transparent with our customers, regulators, and the legislature with our findings to determine what actions should be taken to reduce the threat of such large outages” at the Costa Sur plant. Acevedo, vice president of LUMA, said the cause of the fire remains under investigation and noted that the team was up to date with maintenance inspections. LUMA is a joint venture between Quanta Services and the Canadian energy company ATCO, which the Puerto Rican government chose to leave in charge of the operation of the electric grid from its former electric utility company, the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority. Puerto Rico. LUMA has been in charge of the power grid since June 1. — CNN’s Jason Hanna, Rafy Rivera and Michelle Watson contributed to this report.