Power failures from storm Ernesto reflect the failures to improve Puerto Rico's grid

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

In Puerto Rico, crews are still working to restore electricity almost a week after tropical storm Ernesto passed near the island, bringing heavy rain. Ernesto was not a direct hit, and it did not cause major damage to the island or its power grid. That's why many people are angry that half of the island's homes and businesses still lost power, and tens of thousands are still waiting to get it back. NPR's Adrian Florido reports from Puerto Rico.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: In the town of Naguabo, near the island's east coast, Esther Garcia (ph) and two neighbors are standing on the street in front of her apartment. Garcia's angry that days after the storm, they're still waiting for electricity.

ESTHER GARCIA: (Non-English language spoken).

FLORIDO: "The whole town lost power," Garcia says, "and the only tree to fall here was that one right there." She points just up the block at a tree that fell onto a car, bringing down a single power line.

Ernesto was small compared to other storms that have hit Puerto Rico in recent years. There was lots of rain, but not much damage to homes or infrastructure. Juan Saca is CEO of the island's power company, LUMA Energy.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JUAN SACA: (Non-English language spoken).

FLORIDO: "We have not found any catastrophic damage to the grid that would need repairing," he told a press briefing last week. So why then, many in Puerto Rico are asking, did half the territory lose power? And why are tens of thousands still waiting for it nearly a week later?

AGUSTIN IRIZARRY: This doesn't bode well for LUMA.

FLORIDO: Agustin Irizarry is a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and an expert on the grid.

IRIZARRY: Basically, we only had rain and some gusts of wind, and you don't see any damage, and you have to wait three days, four days without power. That's the type of thing that upsets people, and rightly so.

FLORIDO: Most of people's anger is directed at LUMA, a U.S. and Canadian company that, three years ago, took over what, for decades, had been a publicly run grid. Officials promised privatization would strengthen the dilapidated system after years of government neglect, but recent data show outages are worsening. LUMA has said improving the rickety grid it inherited will take time.

But Irizarry says the company set itself up for failure. It only employs a third as many line workers as the government did. Irizarry said when it let all those workers go, they took with them critical knowledge about how to restore a complex system.

IRIZARRY: They don't have enough trained personnel to implement the processes that were used before. So it just confirms to everyone that LUMA is unprepared to face a serious hurricane hit in Puerto Rico.

FLORIDO: Across Puerto Rico, anger and tension have been rising. In the mountain town of Orocovis, the mayor hired his own crews of former government line workers to repair power lines rather than wait for LUMA to show up. Yesterday, LUMA sent the mayor a cease and desist letter.

ELA LEBRON: (Non-English language spoken).

FLORIDO: In the town of Naguabo, Ela Lebron (ph), who is 65, invites me into her stifling apartment. Temperatures have been in the mid 90s.

LEBRON: (Non-English language spoken).

FLORIDO: "This heat isn't easy," she says. She's rigged an oscillating fan to a tiny solar panel. At night, she sits in a chair and lets it blow in her face until the charge dies after an hour.

LEBRON: (Non-English language spoken).

FLORIDO: "I sit here, and it helps me breathe," she says. Then she crawls into the hammock on the balcony and tries to fall asleep.

Adrian Florido, NPR News, Naguabo, Puerto Rico. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.