SAN JUAN, P.R.
Puerto Rico officials have said it could “take half a year” to restore power to its entire population, after Hurricane Maria knocked out power across all of the U.S. territory and the threat of flooding continues.
San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital and largest city, was hit especially hard with flooding to the point where certain residential streets “resembled rushing rivers,” according to the latest reporting from NBC News.
“The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there,” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told the MSNBC news network during an interview. “We’re looking at four to six months without electricity.”
San Juan is home to the Puerto Rico Convention Center and remains one of the more popular stops on the island for groups attending meetings and events from the continental U.S. and beyond. Based on the convention center’s Facebook page, it appears that several events were postponed prior to the storm.
The current path of Hurricane Maria shows it avoiding Florida and the U.S. East Coast. The storm hit the Dominican Republic on Thursday morning (Sept. 21) and is now heading toward Turks and Caicos.
Stay tuned to the Meetings Today website for more updates as they become available.
