Dangerous Heat Wave Tests Puerto Ricans’ Ability To Survive The Latest Power Outages

“This is a crisis,” says one public housing technician with no air conditioning.

This week marks a grim milestone in Puerto Rico’s weather record: For the first time, virtually every inch of the U.S. Caribbean territory’s 311-mile coastline is roasting in temperatures of up to 114 degrees Fahrenheit. Federal forecasters say heat exhaustion or stroke are “likely with prolonged exposure.”

For Gloricela Santiago, 59, staying cool these nights means sleeping outside on her balcony, breathing in the fumes of neighbors’ generators roaring through sunrise.

That’s because Santa Isabel, the seaside town where Santiago lives and works as a technician at a public housing complex, is one of three municipalities on Puerto Rico’s southern shore facing power outages that could last for seven weeks. Experts say workers can restore electricity in a matter of days, but the private utility that now controls Puerto Rico’s power system would need to use its own money rather than federal dollars.

“It is horrible. The heat is terrible. People cannot sleep and no longer have the budget to buy food,” Santiago said in Spanish, speaking over text message Monday night to save battery on her phone. “This is a crisis.”

America’s most populous unincorporated territory hasn’t had steady electricity since Hurricane Maria laid waste to the aging power grid in September 2017. The storm triggered an 11-month blackout ― the second-longest in modern history, leaving thousands to die without refrigerated medicine or filtered water.