Puerto Rico News Digest For February 11, 2018

BREAKING:

POWER OUT ACROSS NORTHERN PR

FIRE AT MONACILLOS STATION LEAVES THOUSANDS IN THE DARK

Photo: John Mudd, via Twitter.

Many parts of northern Puerto Rico, including large swaths of the San Juan metro area, were plunged into darkness on Sunday night, seemingly due to a fire at the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica's Monacillos substation in Río Piedras. The failure at Monacillos may have created a domino effect which knocked other substations out of service. Per AEE, the San Juan and Palo Seco power plants are currently offline. 

According to both El Nuevo Día and power utility customers on social media, sectors of the following municipalities have been affected: San Juan, Carolina, Trujillo Alto, Guaynabo, Caguas, Camuy, Hatillo, Manatí, Arecibo,  Río Grande, Barceloneta and Luquillo. At this time, the cause of the fire is unknown. AEE sources have stated that it could take as long as 16 hours for power to return to most of the affected areas. Follow our Twitter feed for the latest.

ROSSELLO AND GONZALEZ ANNOUNCE RECOVERY FUNDS

From Caribbean Business: 

"Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, along with Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González announced an allocation of $16 billion in federal funds for the island’s recovery after Hurricane Maria. This appropriation is part of budget legislation approved by Congress and signed Friday by President Donald Trump..."

MALL OF SAN JUAN TO MAKE $10M FOR 2018

From News Is My Business:

"Taubman Centers Inc., owners and operators of The Mall of San Juan, anticipated Friday that they will generate $10 million of net operating income (NOI) from that asset in 2018, some of which may come from sources other than sales activities..."

PR SENDS ATHLETE TO WINTER OLYMPICS

From Time: 

"Carrying Puerto Rico’s flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea, Flaherty beamed as the first representative for Puerto Rico at the Games since 1998, when it sent another alpine skier and two-man and four-man bobsled teams to Nagano, Japan."