A power plant fire in Puerto Rico caused an islandwide power outage Wednesday, causing hospitals in the U.S. territory to cancel elective surgeries and non-urgent appointments, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
The outage affected roughly 1.5 million people in Puerto Rico, as all customers of the Electric Power Authority lost power. In addition to hospitals, businesses, schools and government offices closed down as a result of the outage.
The executive director of the Electric Power Authority said power restoration priority would be given to hospitals, airports, police stations and water pumping outlets, according to Fortune. Power may not be fully restored until Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"This is a very serious event," Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said, according to USA Today. "The system is not designed to withstand a failure of this magnitude. I assume complete responsibility. Everyone knows that the company's maintenance problems began decades ago."
The electricity provider is in the process of restructuring $9 billion of debt.