Shortly after 10 p.m. AST on Aug. 13, Tropical Storm Ernesto impacted Puerto Rico with up to 9 in. of rain in some areas and winds of up to 70 mph, resulting in debris, mudslides and flooding.
After the storm, which caused damage to LUMA's transmission and distribution infrastructure, LUMA continued to conduct assessments to determine the full extent of damage to the system and complete repairs needed and restore power. Based on the preliminary damage assessments completed on Aug. 15, the San Juan LUMA Region had the most documented damages, followed by Caguas LUMA Region.
LUMA’s Emergency Operations Center (LEOC) activated its restoration process on Aug. 14 as part of its Emergency Response Plan. The utility used pre-positioned crews to restore service to customers where it was safe.
As of 1 p.m. AST on Aug. 15, LUMA had successfully restored power to more than 300,000 customers. The utility planned to continue restoration efforts to restore the approximately 407,000 customers who remain without power, especially in eastern and central areas of Puerto Rico and its neighboring islands of Vieques and Culebra, which received the greatest impact.
LUMA continued to work closely with local and federal agencies and the Puerto Rican government to ensure a united and efficient storm response effort as it remained focused on restoring service to its impacted customers.
“LUMA has been and will continue to work around the clock to conduct damage assessments, reenergize the affected portions of the grid and restore power to impacted customers. We anticipated significant weather-related impacts to Puerto Rico and proactively deployed vegetation and restoration crews to the islands of Vieques and Culebra to ensure we could support those communities. Please know that our team is here, we are responding, and we will not stop until every customer’s power is restored,” said Juan Saca, LUMA president and CEO.
Restoration and Response Efforts Underway
As soon as weather conditions were safe, LUMA immediately dispatched pre-positioned crews, trained in emergency response, across the impacted regions to conduct damage assessments, which are critical for determining repairs before safely restoring power to all impacted customers.
LUMA continued to follow the restoration process in accordance with its Emergency Response Plan, which, of 1 p.m. AST on Aug. 15, includes:
- Dispatching damage assessment and restoration crews to respond to outages as conditions safely allow – aerial and ground assessments were currently underway with 410 completed assessments identifying damages to equipment, including broken poles and downed power lines, a flooded substation and vegetation coming into contact with transmission and distribution infrastructure.
- Using emergency response resources including ground fleet vehicles and field employees to assess and repair damages – 1,598 utility workers were deployed.
- Conducting restoration work in a coordinated manner and under high standards of compliance with safety, prioritizing critical services including health, safety, transportation and communications facilities – assessments identified 116 critical facilities that will be prioritized for restoration.
- Continuing repairs and restoring power to all affected customers as quickly and safely as possible when generation is available, prioritizing the repairs that impact the largest groups of customers first –22 line segments have been reenergized to support restoration efforts, restoring power to more than 300,000 customers.
- Providing customers with timely updates and sharing updates on damage assessments and restoration efforts across official LUMA channels – LUMA hosted six regional meetings with municipal leaders on Aug. 14 and continued to share updates with customers.
For more information and to stay updated on the progress of the storm restoration efforts, visit lumapr.com.
