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A Single Fallen Tree Cuts Power to Nearly 1 Million Puerto Ricans

Power was gradually returning to Puerto Rico Thursday night after the US commonwealth was hit with a massive outage -- nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the island's infrastructure and its electrical grid.

Power was gradually returning to Puerto Rico Thursday night after the US commonwealth was hit with a massive outage -- nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the island's infrastructure and its electrical grid.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, said a tree fell on a major power line, knocking out service to 870,000 customers, about half its clients. The utility tweeted an image it said was of the tree that fell across a power line near the southeast mountain town of Cayey.

Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority tweeted an image it says was of the tree that fell across a power line near the southeast mountain town of Cayey.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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