The outage that began past noon Wednesday left 1.4 million customers without electricity and more than 400,000 without water.

Power is gradually being restored across the island but widespread frustration remains over the government's management of Puerto Rico's energy system.

Nearly 620,000 are still without power in Puerto Rico on Thursday, more than 24 hours after the entire island lost electricity when its power plants were knocked out of service, the latest breakdown of the territory’s faulty electric grid.