Island-Wide Blackout Plunges Puerto Rico Into Darkness Ahead of Easter Weekend

An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday, leaving all 1.4 million power customers in the dark just days before the Easter holiday. The outage struck as residents and thousands of visiting tourists prepared for celebrations, with hotels nearly full and businesses bustling.

Luma Energy, which manages transmission and distribution, confirmed that the island had lost total generation capacity. Meanwhile, over 78,000 people also faced water service disruptions. Officials warned that full restoration of electricity could take between 48 to 72 hours.

“This is unacceptable,” said Josué Colón, Puerto Rico’s energy czar and former executive director of the Electric Power Authority. The cause of the widespread failure remains unclear, though it marks yet another in a string of blackouts plaguing the island in recent years.

Public frustration reached a boiling point. Thousands of residents voiced anger, with renewed calls to cancel government contracts with Luma and Genera PR, the latter responsible for energy generation.

“This is a total disaster,” said 68-year-old Orlando Huertas, as he sat at a bar with a drink in hand. “The government just isn’t doing enough.”

The outage caused major disruptions across the island. Public transportation in San Juan halted, forcing commuters to walk along train rails. Shopping malls, including the Caribbean’s largest, shuttered, and professional sporting events were canceled. Traffic gridlock mounted as police were deployed to manage intersections.

Though 5,000 to 7,000 customers had their power restored by late Wednesday, many without generators scrambled to find ice or crowd into open businesses.

“I’m desperate. My generator is broken,” said Carmen Suriel, who was worried about her young children—one a baby, the other a child with Down syndrome—amid rising temperatures.

For many like Alma Ramírez, 69, who has replaced damaged appliances more than once due to outages, the issue is personal and financial. “They have to improve,” she said. “Those who are affected are us, the poor.”

The island, home to 3.2 million residents, has a poverty rate exceeding 40%. While solar power has seen growth—around 117,000 homes now have rooftop panels—the majority still rely on petroleum-based power, which supplies 62% of the island’s electricity.

A disturbance reportedly hit the transmission system shortly after noon Wednesday, at a time when fewer machines regulate frequency. Officials said the White House has reached out to assist if necessary.

Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, Pablo José Hernández, stressed the urgency of the situation. “After years of blackouts, it feels like it’s going from bad to worse,” he said.

The island has been in a fragile state since Hurricane Maria in 2017 devastated the electrical infrastructure. Despite rebuilding efforts, underinvestment and neglect have left the grid vulnerable to repeated collapse—like this latest one, which arrived just months after a similar outage on New Year’s Eve.