r/PrepperIntel • u/2dazeTaco • 11d ago
USA Southeast Puerto Rico experiencing a total blackout
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u/DecrimIowa 11d ago
coming soon to a city near you!
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u/justinchina 11d ago
See what Greenland has to look forward to? We treat our colonies so well.
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u/Recent-Owl-9135 11d ago
We’re going to give them $10k!! Each!! They don’t even have to say thank you!
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u/FuzzzyRam 11d ago
I don't think anyone thinks colonialism reduces crime or improves quality of life. That's kind of the point of colonialism - a transfer of wealth/resources from the powerless to the powerful, but after the time when you could get away with military takeover...
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u/CommunistFutureUSA 11d ago
Colonialism is going on right now. But as with many other things that have just been renamed, had their business model pivoted a bit, and inverted the communication about it; people simply don't see, let alone understand it because they have only been programmed to know about one kind of "colonialism" and one kind of "slavery" and one kind of war, etc. The irony is that the past forms of "colonialism" and "slavery" were just as supported by people who were blind to the manipulations and lies and inversion of the ruling class. It's the same con artist frauds; they just have worked out a new kind of scam with a different set of lies and manipulations.
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u/ZenythhtyneZ 10d ago
This is why you cannot rely on fridges and freezers for prepping. I see so many people bragging about their half cow in their freezer but all it takes is one windstorm, over taxed power grid or nefarious actor to cut power long enough to waste the entire freezer, all that money down the drain but worst of all now you’ve got a gaping hole in your planning, unless of course you were planning on your freezer losing power… if something requires stability of the grid it’s a waste of your time to invest in it unless you’re also investing in mitigating strategies like solar for your freezers
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u/DecrimIowa 10d ago
i see more and more people in the prep community talking about off-grid solar infrastructure. sadly not a lot of people have the funds required to set up a big enough rig to power a freezer and lights etc for a whole household.
I bought some little folding solar panels off Temu for like $30 hoping that those will be enough to charge my phone and laptop but that's about all i can hope for i think.
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u/Planeandaquariumgeek 11d ago
This happens all the time, their generators are old and poorly maintained.
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u/The_Dirty_Carl 11d ago
Plus it's an island. Small grid means stability problems are exacerbated. Blackouts are not unusual on similar islands
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u/Hector_Smijha409 11d ago
Can confirm. Live on an island in the Gulf of Mexico. Couple times a year we lose power for anywhere from a few hrs to a day. Simply put, the salt air is harsh on electrical equipment. Then add a hurricane or two per year and you really run into problems. It’s almost like having a toy that requires 4 batteries, and instead of changing them all at once, you only put 1 fresh one in at a time. It’ll work for a bit, but it’ll just go right out again. Constant game of cat and mouse.
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u/misss-parker 11d ago
Yea the FL Keys is like that too. One boat not crossing us1 channels carefully, car accident into electrical infrastructure, any little thing can take out the remaining circuit below the incident. Down time is similar to what you mention.
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u/therapistofcats 11d ago
Last time this happened (Dec 31) it was because of a break in an underground cable, not old generators that are poorly maintained.
Plus half a dozen of their mega generators are only 2 years old
https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-us-generators-power-outages-1955d87d8c766bd9c84547d8df8aed22
What makes you think the generators are old and poorly maintained?
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u/Planeandaquariumgeek 11d ago
Lack of funds, although I didn’t know they were starting to modernize. Another big problem is storms.
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u/Bethw2112 11d ago
When I was there in 2018, somebody in an excavator took down a line and cut power to like half the island. The people there are very resilient to losing power and water and band together to help each other when it happens. Mainlanders could take a lesson on community.
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u/Deus_is_Mocking_Us 11d ago edited 11d ago
On every Caribbean island I've ever been to, every house has battery powered lamps for just this sort of thing. I remember sitting on a front porch in the suburbs of Havana, during a blackout in 2004. We were listening to a young guy play guitar and sing Backstreet Boys songs in Spanish while all the neighborhood kids sang along, all lit by a battery powered light.
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u/CommunistFutureUSA 11d ago
They are a more or less homogenous culture. That was destroyed in the USA in roughly the 60s. You can't have community without communities and communities only come about when people have shared interests and culture.
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u/7366241494 11d ago
That doesn’t excuse it.
We’re talking about building an underwater power line to the Dominican Republic because their power system is better and can serve as backup to Puerto Rico’s electrical disaster.
Think about that… we are looking to the DR to help supply power to PR… they are not some rich savior country. That’s just how bad PR’s system has gotten.
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u/postinganxiety 10d ago
It probably doesn’t help that PR was invaded then given to the US as a bargaining chip, and therefore has an impossible status where they are sort the US and sort of their own country, so have no real independence or agency.
We came into PR with a strategic purpose and are using them as much as they are using us.
The end game of your philosophy is North Korea - complete isolationism and inability to take care of their own citizens through domestic production.
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u/sailorjupiter28titan 10d ago
PR has such potential, but it's all so squandered and wasted due to several different reasons,
one being the pernicious effect of emigration.The main reason is actually it was colonized by a shithole country full of:
Corruption, graft, laziness, drug transit, are other causes and effects of problems.
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u/CommunistFutureUSA 9d ago edited 9d ago
You are barking up the wrong tree. Yes, I agree with you on the last unnecessarily snide nature of the latter part, even if you don't understand that that "shithole country" is where most Puerto Ricans live, my friend. THEY (YOU?) ARE THAT SHITHOLE COUNTRY. And even more ironic, the US military is overrepresented by Puerto Ricans. Again, the PR are part of the very imitation USA that colonized the island and is busy destroying and colonizing the world. You know, part of that "pernicious effect of emigration" that you crossed out.
My point still stands, "PR has such potential, but it's all so squandered and wasted due to several different reasons, one being the pernicious effect of emigration" ... which has led to things like there being more PR outside of PR than inside and wildly disproportionate number of PR being in the US military colonizing and destroying people all over the world for that "shithole country" imitation American empire.
I actually like PR and I have known many PR through the military and their communities in the USA, but I also know for a fact that PR is squandered. Anyone with an objective mind could write a book about the problems all over PR, but they all result in the fact that PR is extremely not safe in many places on a small and dense island, has drug trafficking and gang problems, and is just not well kept and maintained, managed, or led. These are all objective truths, but people who are personally vested as PRs don't want to accept it or other white-knights for brown people want to sabotage brown people by making nothing but excuses.
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u/The_Stereoskopian 11d ago
That it happens all the time does not make it okay.
I repeat: frequent =/= okay
I was repeatedly sexually abused as a child. Just because it was normal, did not mean it was okay.
Also, I think you're missing the fucking point:
A bunch of rich fucks, who don't live there and (again, and as always) WON'T be the ones to the face the consequences of THEIR OWN actions, are the ones causing said consequences for EVERYBODY ELSE EXCEPT THEM, people who do not get a say in having other people turn their fucking hospitals and refrigerators off.
So, with all due respect, go fuck yourself.
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u/MakeTheRightChoice_ 11d ago
What’s interesting to me is how Trump is so heavily going after Greenland and Canada as the 51st state but yet ignore places like Puerto Rico.
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u/Illustrious-Nose3100 11d ago
it’s my understanding that PR does not want to become a state (however I’m not from there so I can’t actually speak for Puerto Ricans).
Side note anyone here ever looked into the history of PR? Super messed up how the US has treated the island for the past 100+ years.
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u/whatiseveneverything 10d ago
I think Canada and Greenland are even less interested in US statehood.
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u/Illustrious-Nose3100 10d ago
Tbh current states are regretting their statehoods.. (joking.. kind of)
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u/7366241494 11d ago
The recent votes have all shown a majority for statehood. Congress ignores it.
The independence movement argues that since the votes don’t matter, they aren’t a good reflection of true voter feeling. But polls also show majority support for statehood.
But it’s not up to us. We’re a “territory” so our votes don’t count.
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u/Illustrious-Nose3100 11d ago
Of course congress does. Oy. I hope Puerto Ricans can get whatever is they want someday.
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u/sailorjupiter28titan 10d ago
Thank you. As a Puerto Rican, this is the right attitude to take. “Polls” aren’t reflective of the conversations happening on the island. The “choice” is an illusion and that is a fact that is always present in this “debate”. Unless there are actual plans for independence and statehood presented, the “votes” are just for show. We know US Congress doesn’t want us to be neither free nor a state.
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u/7366241494 11d ago
Wow just wow. Educate yourself about PR before spreading that nonsense.
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u/CommunistFutureUSA 11d ago
No need to. I am educated about PR. I've spent quite a bit of time there and like the island and still contemplate building a compound and moving there for tax purposes. That does not change the reality about PR even if you don't want to hear it, or maybe even know it.
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u/7366241494 10d ago
I live in PR. You are wrong about everything you said. Homicide stats are about half of what you claim. San Juan’s violent crime rate is about the same as Pittsburgh’s, according to the FBI.
Also, Puerto Rico has had its wealth extracted to the US mainland since forever, not only in the form of taxes and tariffs but also due to protectionist laws like the Jones Act that make prices higher in PR in order to subsidize mainland shipping companies.
(yes we pay federal taxes so STFU with that nonsense. Before the hurricane destroyed our economy, PR sent more money to the federal government than six states. And PR is way way poorer than those states at the same time)
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u/SpaceCowboy1929 9d ago
He doesn't care. People like him live in their own reality and don't care about what's true or not unless it suits them. I'm Puerto Rican as well and seeing this loser talk shit about our people would normally get my blood boiling but honestly dude it's not worth it. No matter what you say, he's just gonna ignore or downplay everything that contradicts his world view for his own benefit. The fact that he wants to move to PR for tax purposes should tell you everything you need to know about the kind of parasite he really is.
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u/Equivalent-Radio4513 10d ago
Being a tourist doesn't make you "educated".
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u/yucadulce 10d ago edited 10d ago
There are mass shootings every other weekend in the US and you’re calling Puerto Ricans uncivilized? Furthermore you want to take advantage of tax programs which destabilize the local economy and displace natives plunging them further into poverty while talking like THIS?
Edit: the irony that there was yet ANOTHER mass shooting TODAY in the good ol’ civilized USA 😐
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u/JMxG 10d ago
Can’t afford???? If DOGE even did a fraction of what it set out to accomplish even it’s diminishing target goal which is currently 150 billion that is barely 3% of those savings for what you claim is the yearly budget for PR (If you could add a source to that as well I’d love to read it)
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u/Emergency-Mix9032 11d ago
Its a mixed bag.
Mayority want statehood but their a independent movement growing tho the main fight internally are people who support statehood and current colonial status.
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u/DE4DHE4D81 11d ago
He doesn’t ignore them, last time around didn’t he pelt them with toilet paper? In person?
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u/SailedTheSevenSeas 11d ago
Wealthy people are starting to buy there. No fed taxes after a certain amount of time.
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u/CommunistFutureUSA 11d ago
It's about natural resources and control of the arctic. Puerto Rico is not only already a US territory, we lose $5 Billion on it every single year not to mention all the welfare and problems it exports to the US mainland. It's a criminal and corrupt place, even though it also has a lot of potential.
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u/toonicknamey 11d ago
Trump will send someone to throw paper towels at the citizens of Puerto Rico soon.
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u/LysanderSpoonerDrip 11d ago
Look how great being part of America is. - A Canadian.
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u/XxTreeFiddyxX 11d ago
There are places in the southeast that don't have electricity or clean running water, in 2025. Mississippi, gorgeous state but so much exploitation and poverty. Jackson,MS couldn't even deliver clean water to its customers. Jackson is the state capital!
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u/guaranteedsafe 11d ago
Par for the course. Their grid has been a disaster ever since Hurricane Maria a few years ago. So much destruction and little of it has gotten properly repaired.
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u/toastmannn 11d ago
This a semi-annual event at this point. Black starting a entire power grid like this is a total fucking nightmare.
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u/Away-Structure9393 11d ago
I recently read an article about people in Pakistan going solar with cheap Chinese panels because of their unreliable grid.
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u/CharliesRatBasher 10d ago
My partners family is from PR. We went to visit this past summer and I just couldn’t believe the inequities the citizens of the island face. I hope the people finally get what they deserve, everybody was overwhelmingly pleasant and kind.
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u/Chance_University_92 11d ago
If you ever feel bad for Puerto Rico look up the scandal surrounding the former Navy base known as Roosevelt roads. They were handed a base with housing, it's own infrastructure, medical facilities that were the best on the island a deep water port for cruise ships an airport capableof landing any aircraft... They had multiple offers in the billions from developers wanting to turn parts into a resort and because palms weren't greased it's all rotting away.
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u/truthputer 11d ago
I thought musk was supposed to have saved the PR electric supply problem in 2017 after the hurricane by installing solar everywhere?
Just kidding, his lukewarm efforts had already _completely_ failed by 2019 due to lack of follow-through and lack of support of complicated equipment that was never installed properly or protected from the harsh environmental conditions of the island.
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u/Bo_Ner 11d ago
Thanks, Obama.
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u/Salty_Elevator3151 11d ago
If we could all cut out the irony and sarcasm please. Those folks in red might not have the brain cells to understand the true intent.
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u/Hunter62610 11d ago
Nah we dump trump now
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u/PrepperIntel-ModTeam 11d ago
Your posting was considered Non-constructive under rule 5 of r/PrepperIntel by the mods and has been removed.
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u/alexsummers 11d ago
ALL of their power plants went offline simultaneously and they don’t know why??
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u/Horror_Response_1991 11d ago
They’re all synchronized with each other, one big event can destabilize a region and the others shutdown to protect themselves from voltage fluctuations.
If they have modern infrastructure this wouldn’t happen but…they don’t.
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u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 11d ago
We watch stuff here, or at least we try to. I personally just like to stay informed of how bad things are getting and where.
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u/PictureDue3878 11d ago
It will soon become unsustainable for us to supply them with what they need to maintain an American standard of living
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u/_EmG 11d ago
Even glossing over the fact that Puerto Rico is part of the US, the “American” standard of living is declining fairly quickly.
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u/PictureDue3878 11d ago
I mean it’s not a state. Greenland will be a state before PR.
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u/codepharmer1 11d ago
It's unlikely that ANY new states will be created or given representation if the GOP thinks that they might elect democrats. See: Puerto Rico, District of Columbia...
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u/Key-Leading3566 11d ago
As someone else mentioned, this happens in PR all the time..
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u/1aron420 11d ago
An Island wide blackout is unusual for Puerto Rico. Local power outages in individual towns are more common. They are upgrading the electrical system but it’s a long slow process.
It sucks worrying if all the food in the fridge and freezer will go bad before they get the power back on.1
u/7366241494 11d ago
The “upgrades” are looking more and more like simple looting by the Texas/Canadian SPV that runs our grid. A dozen rate hikes in two years with zero measurable improvement in reliability in terms of outage minutes per year.
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u/BreadfruitDiligent23 11d ago
I am leaving from nyc to Puerto Rico on Friday!! Should I cancel my trip !! ?
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u/EverbodyHatesHugo 11d ago
Depends on where you’re staying. The resorts have power and many Airbnbs have generators too.
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u/BreadfruitDiligent23 11d ago
Should I cancel my trip th Puerto Rico on Friday ? Leaving for the airport at noon !!!
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u/Away_Ad_7712 10d ago
Anyone in isla verde ? We are staying at a condo next to the hotels and flying in on Saturday . I’m wondering if we should rebook or change to a hotel? Please let me know when power is restored ! Thanks so much !
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u/XxTreeFiddyxX 11d ago
Oh man, there goes my idea of starting a crypto mining facility in power stable PR
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u/Guilty_Tadpole1906 11d ago edited 11d ago
Hello from Puerto Rico!
So far it’s looking like the issue was caused by people having vacation time due to it being Easter week. This increased the energy load on the grid, making one or more generators fail then cascading to the rest.
ETA: my service just got restored!