Officials detail Hurricane Fiona damage to Puerto Rico grid

By DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Officials in Puerto Rico say preliminary evaluations show Hurricane Fiona damaged 50% of transmission lines and distribution feeders as hundreds of thousands of people remain without power or water service almost two weeks after the storm hit. Thursday’s announcement came as a major power plant in Puerto Rico was knocked offline and began to spew heavy black smoke in the latest setback to efforts to stabilize the U.S. territory’s power grid. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said he was not satisfied that more than 270,000 clients out of 1.47 million were without power and more than 100,000 clients out of 1.2 million without water service.