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As the Twins and Cleveland visit Puerto Rico this week to play two games in San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, there’s been a lot of talk about the devastation the island suffered last year during Hurricanes Irene and Maria. MLB and Puerto Rican players have done a lot to try and help the island recover, but it’s clear more needs to be done.
Case in point: The island apparently lost all power this morning.
BREAKING ALERT: The entire island of Puerto Rico has been hit by a sudden blackout; could take 36 hours to restore power - AEE
— TAP Alerts (@TAPAlerts) April 18, 2018
CONFIRMED:
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) April 18, 2018
Black out in Puerto Rico.
The entire island is without power. There is “ZERO power generation at this point”, according to a 2nd @AEEONLINE spokesman
A fault was detected on the line 50700 which starts in Aguirre Central
It may take 24 to 36 hours to restore pour
A loss of power to the whole island is heartbreaking, considering these hurricanes happened over six months ago. This kind of thing should not be happening in America.
As far as Twins fans go, apparently many of the hotels there have generators providing power, and I assume many emergency facilities do as well. Hiram Bithorn Stadium — the central location for many of the immediate recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria — has emergency generators, and San Juan’s mayor vowed that tonight’s game will be played.
All emergency systems at Hiram Bithorn Stadium have been tested just now and are fully functional. The game will GO ON. Nothing will stop us pic.twitter.com/u4jpCkjc1Q
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) April 18, 2018
Though that may be comforting to baseball fans, I can’t help but feel guilty that so much effort is being put into making sure a game is played while people living on the island are once again without power. It’s clear they still need our help.
Here are some ways you can help Puerto Rico: