Power outages, f looding hits Puerto Rico, 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.

The Category 5 hurricane caused damages estimated at more than $100 billion, killed dozens of people by the most conservative estimates and destroyed up to 75 percent of Puerto Rico’s electricity transmission lines.

Some 60,000 people in the U.S. territory still have only tarps for roofs blown off by Maria, and more than 1,500 customers still are without power more than nine months after the storm.

Power outages also were reported Monday on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, where officials ordered schools and government offices closed.

Jose Alamo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told The Associated Press that 1 to 5 inches of rain fell across Puerto Rico. The island experienced sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph.