CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (AP) — A growing number of businesses, including grocery stores and gas stations, are temporarily closing across Puerto Rico as power outages caused by Hurricane Fiona drag on in the U.S. territory, sparking concern about the availability of fuel and basic goods.
Hand-written signs warning of closures have been popping up more frequently, eliciting sighs and groans from customers on an island where 62% of 1.47 million clients still do not have power more than four days after the storm hit.
Betty Merced, a retiree who lives in the southern coastal city of Salinas, said she has spent several days looking for diesel to fill up her generator to no avail. She uses a sleep apnea machine and cannot risk going without it.
“There are a lot of people with a lot of needs,” she said. “If…
