Puerto Rico power plant blaze plunges island into darkness

2016-09-22 201

A fire at the main power plant on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico has left one and a half million people without power.

This is the fire that appears to have caused an electricity outage in the whole of Puerto Rico #ApagonPR pic.twitter.com/10AMbA1cPz— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) September 21, 2016

Authorities say the outage caused another fifteen fires across the US territory because of malfunctioning generators.

Heavy storms had been affecting the area where the power plant is located on the south of the island.

The power company is struggling with a nine-billion dollar US debt .. and management says it needs more revenue to update what it says is outdated equipment.

The blackout brought traffic chaos and many train services in the capital San Juan were cancelled.

Local media reported that firefighters had put out the blaze but it was not clear when full power would be restored.

Massive Power Outage Reported In Puerto Rico https://t.co/lCsLIBzvLZ— NPR (@NPR) September 21, 2016