Power outages, flooding hits Puerto Rico, USVI amid storms
HUMACAO, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were hit by power outages and widespread flooding Monday as remnants of the Atlantic season’s first hurricane provided an initial test of how far they have recovered from last year’s devastating storms.
More than 47,000 customers in Puerto Rico lost electricity at the peak of the bad weather, but that number had dropped to 13,000 late in the afternoon as crews rushed to restore power. Some 8,600 customers were left without water.
Puerto Rico’s east coast was the most affected even as people in that region struggle to recover from Hurricane Maria.
“We’re still not ready to receive another storm,” said 17-year-old Ruben Del Moral, who lives in the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa, the first town hit by Hurricane Maria last September.