Puerto Rico is without power across the island on Sunday as Category 1 Hurricane Fiona heads across its southern coast.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi confirmed the electrical outage shortly before President Joe Biden authorized an emergency disaster.
“Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and ordered Federal assistance to supplement Commonwealth and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Fiona beginning on September 17, 2022, and continuing,” Biden wrote.
“The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population,” the declaration added.
The storm is expected to bring up to two feet of rain in some parts of the island, with more than 12 inches of precipitation across most of Puerto Rico. Fiona began as a tropical storm, striking Guadeloupe on Friday with one death reported.
Fiona was upgraded to hurricane status on Sunday as sustained winds reached more than 80 miles per hour. Gusts of up to 100 miles per hour have been reported on the island that is home to 1.4 million people.
Les inondations à Puerto rico #fiona #puertorico pic.twitter.com/2whBIeZ9A5
— Gérald DELISCAR-JOURDAN (@GDELISCAR) September 18, 2022
Puerto Rico’s Luma Energy reported the blackout conditions on Sunday afternoon.
“The current weather conditions are extremely dangerous and are hindering our ability to fully assess the situation,” the company shared in a statement.
“Due to the magnitude and extent of the blackout, as well as the effects of Hurricane Fiona, the total restoration of electricity service could take several days,” it added.
Just west of Ponce, #PuertoRico in #Hurricane #Fiona – @NWSSanJuan @LiveStormsMedia @NHC_Atlantic pic.twitter.com/b8PRxJ2UXw
— Brett Adair (@AlaStormTracker) September 18, 2022
Health centers are reportedly running on generators, according to the Associated Press. The outlet noted that Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews were working to repair generators as soon as possible at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, which had experienced outages.
103 MPH wind gust from #Hurricane #Fiona here in Ponce where we're stuck in the (dirty) eye wall with roar of the wind continuing. The entire island is without power as disastrous and life-threatening flash flooding continues. pic.twitter.com/AHUik23Jec
— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) September 18, 2022
The new hurricane passes through just two days ahead of the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which caused nearly 3,000 deaths in the region in 2017. The devastating Category 4 storm struck on September 20, 2017, destroying the island’s power grid.
Puerto Rico is also just two years beyond a 6.4-magnitude earthquake that shook the nation, making global headlines over both the event and the problems in the state of emergency following the natural disaster.
The quake damaged one of the island’s main power plants and triggered a self-protective feature on the electric grid, leaving the entire U.S. territory without electricity.