SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, a massive blackout plunged most of Puerto Rico into darkness, leaving residents in a state of confusion and frustration.

The blackout affected nearly 1.5 million customers across the island, including parts of the capital, San Juan. The cause of the outage was not immediately clear, with authorities scrambling to restore power to the affected areas.

For many Puerto Ricans, the blackout was a stark reminder of the island’s fragile and outdated power grid, which has been struggling to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Despite efforts to modernize the grid, issues like infrastructure damage and lack of maintenance continue to pose challenges.

Officials assured the public that crews were working around the clock to identify and address the problem. However, with many people ringing in the new year in darkness, there were growing concerns about the impact of the blackout on businesses and essential services.

The blackout also raised questions about the government’s ability to provide reliable electricity to its citizens, especially in the wake of natural disasters. Many Puerto Ricans expressed frustration with the recurring outages and called for more sustainable solutions to ensure consistent power supply on the island.

As residents waited for updates on the situation, some took to social media to share their experiences and seek information from authorities. The blackout served as a stark reminder of the challenges facing Puerto Rico’s energy infrastructure, highlighting the need for long-term solutions to prevent similar incidents in the future.

As the hours passed and the blackout persisted, residents remained hopeful that power would be restored soon. With the new year underway, many were left reflecting on the vulnerabilities of Puerto Rico’s power system and the urgent need for improvements to prevent widespread outages in the future.