The Rhodium Group published a new analysis that concludes the power loss in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands from Hurricane Maria is the second-largest blackout in world history. They analyzed customer-hours of power loss to conclude that it's behind only Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippines in 2013 — albeit a distant second.
Why it matters: Their tally underscores the magnitude of suffering faced by U.S. citizens from the storm that hit last September. By early this week, it had had caused the loss of 3.4 billion customer hours of service in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
