The 3.5 million people of Puerto Rico are entering their second day with no power after a substation fire knocked out service to the entire island. The power outage has left schools scrambling to cancel classes and public hospitals forced to cancel surgeries.

Perhaps even worse, the outage caused numerous fires across the island as a result of malfunctioning generators, including at the upscale Vanderbilt hotel in the popular tourist area of Condado and at the mayor’s office in the northern coastal town of Catano.

Perhaps even worse, the outage caused numerous fires across the island as a result of malfunctioning generators, including at the upscale Vanderbilt hotel in the popular tourist area of Condado and at the mayor’s office in the northern coastal town of Catano.

While Puerto Rico's Governor Padilla and the utility's CEO, Javier Quintana, have said they expect service to be restored by this morning, many Puerto Ricans are dubious saying that the economic slump has affected the government's ability to maintain basic infrastructure. According to the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of people took to social media to criticize the Electric Power Authority, noting they already pay bills on average twice that of the U.S. mainland.

Per the WSJ, it's unclear how much damage the fire caused or where the power company would obtain the money to repair and/or replace the damaged equipment. In addition to Puerto Rico's efforts to restructure $70BN of public debt, the utility is also struggling with $9 billion of its own debt that it too hopes to restructure amid corruption allegations.

The outage was the latest hit for Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that has been mired in a decade-long economic crisis resulting in the need to restructure nearly $70 billion in public debt.

read full article at source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-22/puerto-rico-blackout-enters-second-day-leaving-entire-island-and-its-35mm-people-wit

[color="Blue"]Some excellent comments:

hedgeless_horseman Squid Viscous Sep 22, 2016 10:34 AM
They come at night. Mostly.

hedgeless_horseman MANvsMACHINE Sep 22, 2016 10:43 AM
Bllackouts and looting could never happen where you live. But if it did, are you ready?

shastatodd auricle Sep 22, 2016 1:34 PM
"Austerity is not the solution it is the result of a ponzi MDB."

right, and there are no limits to growth on a finite planet. (sigh)

Offthebeach MillionDollarBonus_ Sep 22, 2016 12:05 PM
Puerto Rico is just CABRINI GREEN surrounded by water.

Lumberjack MillionDollarBonus_ Sep 22, 2016 12:45 PM
According to AWEA, all those windmills in Puerto Rico will save the day. /s

Anopheles NidStyles Sep 22, 2016 11:14 AM
Yes, third world problems.

Coming soon to a country near you...

tongue.stan Doom Porn Star Sep 22, 2016 11:32 AM
Call in J-Lo. Dat bitch gots mo benjamins than the entire freeking country.

TalkToLind Sep 22, 2016 10:35 AM
I'll bet those Boricuas now understand why a cashless society doesn't work.

Stuck on Zero TalkToLind Sep 22, 2016 10:57 AM
Cashless but not crashless.