http://abc7.com/weather/hurric...electricity/2435160/

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- All of Puerto Rico has lost electricity as Hurricane Maria continues to pummel the island on Wednesday, according to the Puerto Rico Office of Emergency Management.

Leaving at least nine people dead in its wake across the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria blew ashore in the morning in the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa as a Category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph.

It was expected to punish the island of 3.4 million people with life-threatening winds for 12 to 24 hours.

Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, told The Associated Press that 80 percent of the 454 homes in a neighborhood known as Juana Matos were destroyed. The fishing community on San Juan Bay was hit with a storm surge of more than 4 feet, he said.

As of 2 p.m. EDT, Maria had weakened to a Category 3, with winds of 115 mph (185 kph). It was off Puerto Rico's northwest coast, moving at about 15 mph (20 kph), and was expected to pass off the coast of the Dominican Republic late Wednesday and Thursday.

Even before the storm, Puerto Rico's electrical grid was crumbling and the island was in dire condition financially.

Well, if it wasn't a dump before, it certainly is now.

And there's still a lot of hurricane season left.

In the long run though, I wonder if PR ends up better off by getting a brand new electrical grid paid for by yours truly and the rest of the American taxpayers.

I know how they feel. My house is still without power from Irma.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
I know how they feel. My house is still without power from Irma.

I'm sorry you are still dealing with this. I hope you and all of the others here who are without power have the power restored soon.

My family's prayers are with all of you.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
I know how they feel. My house is still without power from Irma.

If you don't mind my asking, where are you in Florida? We were without power where I live in Orlando from the Sunday when Irma rolled in, to noon this past Sunday.

quote:

Hurricane Maria: 100 percent of Puerto Rico without electricity
Even before the storm, Puerto Rico's electrical grid was crumbling and the island was in dire condition financially.

What percentage of Puerto Rico had electricity before the hurricane?

If you have ever been to Puerto Rico you know this is not a very difficult thing to happen.
I stayed at the Ritz in San Juan and their electricity was dismal get out into the mountains and even on mild days brown outs are very common.
Not to mention electricity is crazy expensive there.

I have a friend with family there. They are 100% out of communication, but radio reports indicate the general area is badly affected.

Some may not like PR, but they too are Americans and worthy of assistance.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Hurricane Maria: 100 percent of Puerto Rico without electricity
Even before the storm, Puerto Rico's electrical grid was crumbling and the island was in dire condition financially.

What percentage of Puerto Rico had electricity before the hurricane?

100% supposedly

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/w...gory-4-storm-n802911

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told MSNBC that the devastation in the capital was unlike any she had ever seen.

"The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there," Yulín said, adding: "We're looking at four to six months without electricity" in Puerto Rico, home to nearly 3.5 million people.

Once it's back out over open water, Maria could re-strengthen to a Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center said, with the Dominican Republic and the Turks & Caicos islands next in its direct path. But after that, it's expected to move more eastward than had been predicted earlier in the week, pushed there by an area of high pressure parked over the eastern United States as part of the remnants of Hurricane Jose, it said.

Forecasters said it remained too early to know how close Maria will move to the U.S. mainland, but Domenica Davis, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, said, "It looks like it will stay in the open waters of the Atlantic."

I was watching the Weather channel and they say some rivers are more than 25 FEET over record flood stage .. This is so hard to fathom.

Heard they might be 4 to 6 months without power. Wow.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Heard they might be 4 to 6 months without power. Wow.

It'll be Lord of the Flies down there without significant National Guard / DOD intervention.

quote:

...Lord of the Flies...

You're dating yourself.

quote:

Originally posted by FRANKT:

quote:

...Lord of the Flies...

You're dating yourself.

What, people don't read it anymore.

At least when the navy decides to park a carrier in PR for its on board hospital, water purification and electric generation capabilities, PR isn't likely to reject it, unlike a few other places when one was offered for disaster response.

I have seen devistation from hurricanes and the results of rebuilding efforts.

If this is handled properly, the PR folks will be in better shape than before (the trauma notwithstanding).

What needs to happen is having the people of PR involved in the skills and labor to rebuild, allowing them to earn a living and have pride and ownership in their rebuiling efforts and the follow-on income that they can enjoy when all things are "new and improved".

PR can become "Aunt Tilly's' Pearl", and a great place to visit and experience on par with St. Martens, the Virgin Islands and others.

It does not have to become Haiti.

June 2018, I predict a baby boom, there!

Hopefully the people of P.R. are more industrious than the PRs typical in the US.

quote:

June 2018, I predict a baby boom, there

I disagree. Hurricanes are not like snowstorms or Sandy in the Northeast. No water and no power does not make for romance. Lots of trauma cases.

I hope that Sig Monkey is right about the rebuilding effort. I am not optimistic considering how parts of New Orleans look today, twelve years after Katrina. It could be a third world country in some sections.