The storm is blamed for causing at least four direct deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where it unleashed torrential rain in Puerto Rico.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico --
Power company officials initially said it would take a couple of days for electricity to be fully restored but then appeared to backtrack late Tuesday night. Luis Noguera, who was helping clear a landslide in the central mountain town of Cayey, said Maria left him without power for a year. "We thought we had a bad experience with Maria, but this was worse," said Gerardo Rodríguez, who lives in the southern coastal town of Salinas.By late Tuesday, authorities said they had restored power to nearly 300,000 of the island's 1.47 million customers, while water service was cut to more than 760,000 customers - two thirds of the total on the island.