United States

Power Shuts Down Again in Puerto Rico Capital, Setting Back Repairs

The territory is asking for about $4.6 billion in immediate relief

Hurricane Maria-ravaged Puerto Rico suffered a setback in its attempt to restore electricity to the island when a substation failed early Sunday, leaving some residents without power and renewing political bickering, NBC News reported.

Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said in an interview with MSNBC that the failure shows "how fragile the energy system in Puerto Rico is."

The substation failure dropped the share of San Juan residents with power through the electrical grid from almost 12 percent to about 7 percent. Rosselló said the station would be operational again Sunday night.

Hurricane Maria plunged most of Puerto Rico into darkness when it hit more than two weeks ago, ravaging the U.S. territory's already-dilapidated energy system. Rosselló told NBC News on Sunday that 38 of the 66 people confirmed to have been killed in the storm died in Puerto Rico.

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