Fire, explosion at power plant leads to blackout in northern Puerto Rico

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A blackout has hit northern Puerto Rico after an explosion set off a big fire at a main power substation in the U.S. territory. Officials with the island's Electric Power Authority said late Sunday that several municipalities are without power, including parts of the capital of San Juan. It was not immediately known what caused the fire.

Heavy black smoke billowed from the substation as neighbors in the area described on social media seeing the sky turn orange following a loud explosion. San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz tweeted that no injuries had been reported and that firefighters were on the scene.

The blackout comes as more than 400,000 power customers remain in the dark more than five months after Hurricane Maria. The Category 4 storm destroyed two-thirds of the island's power distribution system and caused up to an estimated $94 billion in damage.

Puerto Rico's governor recently announced that he plans to privatize the state-owned power company, which is $9 billion in debt and relying on infrastructure nearly three times older than the industry average. It would be the largest restructuring of a public entity in U.S. history.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fire-explosion-puerto-rico-power-substation-today-2018-02-11/

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. Oh no

This was the last thing they needed.

[BigmanPigman]

2. Privatizing is their only option. That sucks.

Thanks to the Fucking Moron and his paper towels to the rescue.

[GReedDiamond]

3. Twitler should simply sell Puerto Rico...

...to a consortium of Russian oligarchs and let them worry about that shithole, instead of rebuilding P.R. being the responsibility of the U.S.A.

(insert sarcasm emoji here)

Edited for clarity.

[C Moon]

4. We'll be privatizing more in the U.S. very soon, unless we fix our voting system.

[burrowowl]

9. Sadly, we most probably will

Corporations, American and foreign own us. We need a revolution!

[LittleGirl]

5. Was that an accident?

or a set up?
Or is someone trying to get someone's attention?

this is some scary stuff happening and I hope everyone of my brothers and sisters in PR are going to be okay.
Ya know, some day soon?
Do we have nobody but amateurs down there getting that place back to Powered Up? Come On! I'm really starting to think something is happening right before our eyes and we aren't seeing it. What is going on down there?

We need to pay attention.

[Igel]

10. Could be sabotage.

But the bets are on its just being the result of even more neglect than PR was known for before Maria. Perhaps the added burden of trying to fix so much made the lack of maintenance worse. Or maybe some animal got where it wasn't supposed to be or did something it wasn't supposed to.

(And by "animal" I really mean some sort of quadruped, probably mammalian, possibly in the order Rodentia.)

[LittleGirl]

11. yup, that's what I implied with my questions

I think it could have been sabotage.
Or a rodent.

[not fooled]

6. Puerto Ricans who've come to the mainland

remember who has refused to do the right thing by your island. Then vote them out.

[BlueDog22]

7. No Breaks

It's like Puerto Rico is getting no breaks as of recent. This sucks.

[tclambert]

8. Not to worry. I'm sure President Trump will get right on it.

Extreme