Some 79,000 homes and businesses were still without power in Puerto Rico on Saturday, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Fiona hit the island, data showed.
After wreaking havoc in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Fiona turned north and hit eastern Canada on September 24, also leaving more than a third of Nova Scotia without power.
Nova Scotia Power, a unit of Canadian energy company Emera Inc., said about 78,200 customers there were still without power as of early Thursday.
Fiona hit Puerto Rico on September 18, leaving the entire island, home to some 3.3 million people, without power.
This Saturday, the company Luma Energy, in charge of the transmission and distribution of electrical energy in Puerto Rico, reported that it increased the restoration of energy service on the island to 90% after the passage of Hurricane Fiona.
As detailed by the company on its website, 1,321,567 customers of some 1.4 million already have the service, 13 days after the onslaught of the cyclone.
The number of subscribers currently with electricity represents an increase of more than 100,000 compared to the 1,214,124 subscribers who had the service until yesterday, Friday, according to the data offered by Luma on its portal.
Clients in the San Juan, Bayamón and Caguas regions already have more than 95% electricity, followed by Arecibo with 90%, Ponce with 79% and Mayagüez with 62%.
On its page, Luma also indicates that the estimated time to restore 90% of the service in Ponce and Mayagüez is between October 4 and 6.
“Although we continue to make progress, we know that there are still many people in Puerto Rico without electricity due to the impact of Hurricane Fiona,” acknowledged Daniel Hernández, Luma’s director of renewable systems and projects, in a press release.
“Given the magnitude of the damage identified through our post-hurricane assessments, we anticipate that more than 90% of customers will have service by Saturday,” he said.
Hernández, however, acknowledged that the restoration of service will take longer in the most affected areas of Ponce and Mayagüez, “where we are mobilizing brigades and resources to support restoration efforts.”
Hernández also assured that Luma continues to give priority to crucial facilities and lifelines of the community, such as hospitals and the facilities of the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA).
Therefore, he indicated that Luma has restored service in all Level 1 hospitals and 93% of AAA facilities. The company has also started reviewing critical Tier 2 and Tier 3 facilities and their infrastructure.
“Luma is committed to our restoration efforts in the most affected communities, and throughout Puerto Rico, and we will not stop until every customer’s service has been restored,” Hernández said.
(With information from agencies)