Alvin Baez | Reuters
Waves crash against the seawall as Hurricane Irma slammed across islands in the northern Caribbean on Wednesday, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico September 6, 2017.
Ricardo Ramos, head of the utility company, known as Prepa, told local radio station NotiUno that parts of the island could be without power for between four and six months due to the poor state of the company’s facilities.
The storm, one of the most powerful ever recorded, is packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. It is expected to travel near Puerto Rico’s northern coast and could make landfall in Florida as early as this weekend.