Power across the entire island of Puerto Rico is out after a malfunction at the Central Aguirre facility.

The outage is affecting more than 1.5 million customers of the the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

 

Pictures from WAPA-TV shows plumes of smoke rising from the facility, which is located in the southern part of the island.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said it will take 12-24 hours to restore power.

The Electric Power Authority said two transmission lines of 230,000 volts each failed for reasons still being investigated. Spokeswoman Yohari Molina said in a phone interview that it was unclear when power would be restored.

The island's fire department said it extinguished a blaze at the power plant in southern Puerto Rico that serves a majority of customers on the island. Heavy storms were affecting the area where the plant is.

Authorities said the outage caused 15 fires across Puerto Rico as a result of malfunctioning generators, including at the upscale Vanderbilt hotel in the popular tourist area of Condado and at the mayor's office in the northern coastal town of Catano. All those fires were put out and no one was injured, officials said.

"I call on people to cooperate and respect drivers and government officials ... to avoid any regrettable incidents," Transportation Secretary Miguel Torres said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.