© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

More than 100,000 clients in Puerto Rico are still without power 2 weeks after Fiona

A LUMA team works to restore power in San Juan days after Hurricane Fiona knocked out power to the island.
Jose Jimenez
/
Getty Images
A LUMA team works to restore power in San Juan days after Hurricane Fiona knocked out power to the island.

More than 100,000 customers in Puerto Rico are still waiting for power to be restored two weeks after Hurricane Fiona dumped historic amounts of rain and knocked out power across the island.

Fiona made landfall in southwest Puerto Rico on Sept. 18 as a Category 1 storm. Most of the remaining outages are on the western and southern sides of the island, according to LUMA Energy, the company that operates the island's power infrastructure.

The storm dropped more than 30 inches of rain in some areas, causing flooding and mudslides that damaged roads and bridges into Puerto Rico's mountains. Many residents were left stranded in small towns without access to utilities, food or medical care.

At least 13 people have died in connection with the storm, according to Puerto Rico's Department of Health. Another 12 deaths are under investigation.

The storm cut power to all of the island's nearly 1.5 million electrical customers. Hundreds of thousands also lost access to water service.

Two weeks later, 91% of customers have had power restored, LUMA reported Sunday. Power is back for the vast majority of homes in the municipalities in northern and northeastern Puerto Rico, including the populous area around San Juan.

But nearly a third of customers in the western region of the island were still without power, along with about 17% of customers in municipalities along the southern coast. The company had previously estimated that power will be restored to 90% of customers in those regions by Thursday.

LUMA has restored service to all of Puerto Rico's hospitals and, as of Saturday, to 94% of the island's water operations facilities, the company reported.

Even before Fiona, there was widespread discontent on Puerto Rico with LUMA, the private company that was awarded a $1.5 billion contract last year to take over Puerto Rico's power grid. That deal came after Hurricane Maria was the final, disastrous straw to decades of neglect and corruption when the system was publicly run.

In a letter sent last week to LUMA, some members of Congress expressed their concerns about why the company "had not adequately prepared the island's energy infrastructure" to withstand a hurricane like Fiona.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Becky Sullivan has reported and produced for NPR since 2011 with a focus on hard news and breaking stories. She has been on the ground to cover natural disasters, disease outbreaks, elections and protests, delivering stories to both broadcast and digital platforms.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

Related Content
Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.