Puerto Rico's power authority is struggling to get service back for some 900,000 people — with one plant that supplies more than 25% of the island's power feared to be knocked out for more than a year, CBS News reported.
The power plant in Guayanilla that generates more than 25% a quarter of the island's power has been severely damaged, and there is disagreement about when it will be back up and running.
"You can see that most of the structure is compromised," Angel Perez, the operations manager at the Costa Sur Power Plant, told CBS News, adding he estimated the plant would be running in "no less than a month."
With Costa Sur not generating any energy, hundreds of thousands of people could go without power.
But Jose Ortiz, the CEO of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, told CBS News the plant "will be out for probably over a year” — a declaration that infuriated the public, which took to Twitter calling for his resignation, CBS News reported.
Ortiz said he is asking FEMA to supply a special generator that would provide 500 megawatts of electricity, which is more than half of what the entire plant can provide.
But CBS News reported, the emergency declaration President Donald Trump signed does not allow FEMA to provide the generators that are needed at the crippled plant.
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