Since hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, the island suffered constant beating of devastating wind forces for over 24 hours, and it took down our power sources. The The AEE (Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica) is being blamed due to their generators not being up to date. They had generators that needed maintenance but they didn’t give the correct maintenance. Despite knowing that there was going to be such a disastrous hurricane, they didn’t do anything about it. Even if news hadn’t spread of such a hurricane that was going to do catastrophic damage to the island, they should have been prepared for any kind of power outage that could occur. Their generators should have been up to date to be sure that the electricity would be intact during any form of event. Since the AEE acted so carelessly, Puerto rican islanders are paying the price for it.
Though of course electric poles couldn’t have been prevented from being knocked down to such intense winds, loose and live wires dangle from the poles. Some traffic lights that were once in place have ceased to exist. Due to such a vast amount of power being lost, people cannot afford to keep their food or drinks safely secured within their refrigerators. Vegetables that need to be kept in the refrigerator have gone bad, meats cannot be kept sealed. Soda, water, and juice can’t be cold. People must drink whatever beverage that is available to them at room temperature or even warmer.
Those that have power plants are lucky, though that can also create some problems. If it makes too much noise, they will disturb their neighbors. If the power plant so happens to be emitting a gaseous odor, it could intoxicate those around them.
Some patients needed oxygen tanks to keep them alive have died due to the loss of electricity. So not only does being without electricity leaves us in the dark without warm food or cold drinks, it also leaves people in a state of panic. Eventually it even leads to death, since they have no way of sustaining themselves.
Therefore, this island needs its power sources to keep its inhabitants alive, for without the electricity there would be no way of keeping things operational and efficient.