42 days after Hurricane Maria struck, which still keeps 74% of the island’s residents without electricity, Puerto Rico climbs a new place in the history of the United States, as the territory that has had the longest blackout in the nation.
This according to a study by the economics firm Rhodium Group, which analyzed 60 years of hurricane data to make comparisons with atmospheric phenomena that have hit the United States. Until today, according to the investigation, Maria has caused the loss of 1,248 million hours of electric service in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
And not only that, in a list made by researchers to establish the ten most destructive hurricanes for US electrical systems, there are two other hurricanes that hit-and put out-Puerto Rico. Hurricane George, who is in second place because in 1998 it caused the loss of 1.050 million hours of electric service, and Hugo (in fifth place) because in 1989 it led to a reduction of 700 million hours of electric power.
The fact that three of the ten largest blackouts in the history of the United States have caused interruptions in Puerto Rico, underscores the need to rebuild the country’s electricity grid
To put the impact of hurricane Maria in perspective, the company compared it with the also recent hurricane Irma, which left 6 million customers without electricity in Florida, 1 million in Georgia and 180,000 in South Carolina. In total, in these states, 753 million hours of electricity were lost, but service was quickly reestablished.
By December 15, the date imposed by Governor Ricardo Rosselló to restore the electricity system, 2 billion hours of service would have been lost, estimated Rhodium Group. But last week the United States Corps of Engineers assured that the island’s blackout will last until next year, perhaps until March, further reaffirming Puerto Rico’s place on the list.
