Puerto Rico officials continue to work to help more than one million people affected by a blackout ahead of Easter weekend festivities.

The massive power outage started at about 12:40 p.m. on April 16, when the Puerto Rico Governor’s Office said a failure in the transmission of the electrical system plunged 1.4 million customers into darkness.

Puerto Rico is frequently plagued by power outages, with the most recent island-wide event on New Year’s Eve taking days to resolve.

Genera PR, the company that generates power on the island, said on April 16 that the “massive power outage” was due to the sudden shutdown of all generating plants, including the company’s plants and other private generators.

As of the afternoon of April 17, Luma Energy, the private company that operates power transmission and distribution, said that electricity has been restored for over 56% − an estimated 826,572 − customers.

“We deeply understand the frustration and hardship this outage has caused our customers,” the company said in a post on X. “We remain committed to restoring service quickly and safely to all customers, in coordination with available generation.”

Luma Energy said it wants to restore service to 90% of customers within a 48-hour period, adding that it aims to prioritize “critical facilities” including hospitals, airports and correctional intuitions.

The blackout has reportedly caused traffic disruptions, as well as challenges at local businesses like restaurants and gas stations, which are grappling with limited resources and high demand. Photos capture how the power outage is impacting residents on the island.

More: Crews work to restore power amid massive Puerto Rico blackout

Photos show island-wide blackout in Puerto Rico

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY

Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].