Some 1.3 million customers without power in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona

[September 20, 2022]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - An estimated 1.3 million homes and businesses remain without power in Puerto Rico Tuesday morning after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the island on Sunday, causing an island-wide power outage for its 3.3 million people.

After hitting Puerto Rico, Hurricane Fiona slammed into the Dominican Republic and was currently churning north toward the Turks and Caicos. The storm has killed at least three people.

The center of Fiona was near Grand Turk Island, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm was packing winds of up to 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour) and continued to cause heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding in the Dominican Republic.

Fiona hit Puerto Rico five years after Hurricane Maria knocked out all power on the island in 2017.

Poweroutages.com, which estimates power outages based on data from utilities, said 1.267 million customers were still without service early Tuesday based on what it called the limited information available from LUMA Energy, which operates Puerto Rico's power grid.

Poweroutages.com said there were 1.468 million power customers in Puerto Rico.

A worker removes utility poles in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Higuey, Dominican Republic, September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas

LUMA Energy said on Monday that its crews have been assessing damage, performing critical repairs and working with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and private generators to increase generation and reenergize the electric grid.

LUMA said on Monday that it restored power to more than 100,000 customers. LUMA has said "full restoration could take several days."

LUMA is a joint venture owned by units of Canadian energy firm ATCO Ltd (50%) and U.S. energy contractor Quanta Services Inc (50%).

PREPA, which operated the island's power grid when Hurricane Maria hit, still owns much of Puerto Rico's power infrastructure. LUMA won a contract to operate the grid in 2020 and started managing that system in 2021.

For most of the five years since Maria, the debt-laden government and PREPA were mired in bankruptcy, with Puerto Rico's finances managed by a federally appointed oversight board.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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