HURRICANE MARIA
How Puerto Rico became the worst grid disaster
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A cascade of obstacles and failures, some little known, led to an epic blackout.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A cascade of obstacles and failures, some little known, led to an epic blackout.
COMERÍO, Puerto Rico — The lights are back on, mostly. But where does Puerto Rico go after its catastrophe?
MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Maria devastated the island's coastline, forcing property owners, developers and government officials to acknowledge at last that climate change and rising seas threaten their famous beaches and tourism economy.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Life fundamentally changed when everyone living in Puerto Rico lost electricity after Hurricane Maria swept across the island. Here are some of their stories.
As President Trump ratchets up pressure to keep disaster relief spending under control, the halting efforts of Puerto Rico's bankrupt public power company to summon help have perplexed and troubled U.S. electricity industry officials.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A shocking statement by a CEO shows how far Puerto Rico's electricity company and its destroyed power grid still have to go in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria
Puerto Rico's Legislature has passed a historic bill to privatize its energy provider, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), a move that could transform the island's electric grid or provide a new outlet for corruption.
Are mortality figures for disasters fueled by climate change being underreported?
Hurricane Maria's punch to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands has become the second-largest blackout in world history, according to a new study. And it isn't even over.
VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico — Electricity workers usually arrive to fix power lines in a big truck with a hydraulic lift, with radios to coordinate with other crews, and a safety officer to make sure no one dies.
When Puerto Rico's moment of need arrived, critical supplies had already been grabbed by utilities recovering from their own disasters.
After making strides in 2017, the effort to rebuild big pieces of infrastructure and get the lights back in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria has reached a plateau.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló proposed selling off the U.S. territory's bankrupt public power utility yesterday following its botched response to Hurricane Maria last fall.
The terrific force of Hurricane Maria came and went three months ago, but Puerto Rico remains in the grips of the largest blackout in U.S. history. And it isn't even close to over, with big questions looming and crucial equipment in short supply.
RINCÓN, Puerto Rico — As the people here fight to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Maria, a quiet desperation touches every aspect of daily life.
Hurricane Maria's wipeout made a clean slate for advocates of a new technology.
Pharmaceutical and medical device makers have struggled to reconnect to Puerto Rico's power grid, with big consequences for the island's future.
Puerto Rico's plight has been seen as a unique consequence of a Category 4 storm's fury on an isolated island. But Hurricane Maria carries potent warnings for governments across the United States, according to disaster experts.
The Energy Department's point man on Puerto Rico, Assistant Secretary Bruce Walker, says full power restoration on the stricken island is still months away, with no clear end date because of delays in bringing mainland repair crews to the island.
There are ideas to make Puerto Rico's electric grid better, but the path forward is intensely political.
The disaster of Hurricane Maria was twofold: first, a natural disaster. Second, a bungled human response to a humanitarian crisis and the longest blackout in American history. Grid restoration work is finally picking up speed nearly seven weeks after the hurricane's strike. But the faltering response has still not been resolved into a unified campaign to bring power back.
A young Oklahoma company's $200 million contract with Puerto Rico's bankrupt power utility recycles controversial language from an earlier deal with Whitefish Energy Holdings LLC, documents show.
More than a month after Hurricane Maria knocked out Puerto Rico's power, it's unclear who among a half-dozen government bodies has the final word on how and when the territory's electric grid will be rebuilt.
Puerto Rico's bankrupt public power utility agreed to cancel a $300 million contract with a tiny Montana company yesterday amid mounting political pressure to scrap the deal.
The outlook for the restoration of Puerto Rico's ravaged power grid took a backward step after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló hinted he would challenge the appointment of an emergency manager for grid recovery that was announced Wednesday by the bankrupt island's federal oversight board.
President Trump said yesterday his administration would support Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló in restoring electric power to the U.S. territory, where most residents have been without electricity for a full month, and then help with the multibillion-dollar task of building a more storm-resistant grid.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — As thousands of federal employees have surged into the capital to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria, they have occupied the convention center, snapped up rooms in the few hotels with electricity and, after the day's shift is over, sometimes relaxed on a barstool with a cold drink.
President Trump toured storm-ravaged Puerto Rico yesterday, praising recovery efforts and taking praise for his administration's disaster response.
It will be a week before President Trump visits Puerto Rico to survey damage from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, even as he declared in a televised press conference yesterday that his administration is "totally focused" on the disaster and supplies are finding their way to the island "on an hourly basis."
A small cadre of federal energy specialists who rode out the fury of Hurricane Maria's 175-mph winds and torrential rains in the heart of Puerto Rico are now facing the unprecedented and daunting task of resurrecting a frail and broken electric grid.
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