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Puerto Rico hit by massive new power outage

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A massive outage has wiped out power to Puerto Rico's capital San Juan.

The problem is with a failure on a main north-south transmission line, said Fernando Padilla, an official with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA.

"It was a mechanical issue on the line, could have happened at any line," he said. "It's being patrolled and repaired by PREPA."

Power went out about 11:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET).

 

Homes and businesses that had been on grid power had to restart generators if they had them.

Power generation plummeted from over 40% of capacity to 18% on Thursday, PREPA said.

Much of Puerto Rico has been without power since Hurricane Maria smashed the island on September 20.