Puerto Rico Power Outage Leaves Almost Entire Island in Dark

Nearly all of Puerto Rico was without power Tuesday after the fragile electricity grid collapsed, triggering an island-wide blackout.

The power outage started early Tuesday and, by midday, about 85% of Puerto Rico’s 1.4 million customers remained without electricity, according to Luma Energy, the private company that operates the system. Luma said power was being restored in some areas, including two hospitals in San Juan, but officials said it may take 24 to 48 hours to fully resume service.

A vehicle at an intersection without functioning stop lights during a power outage in San Juan.

Photographer: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images

“It was a major event,” Josue Colon, director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, said in an interview with ...