Over a million customers still without power in Puerto Rico

STORY: More than a million homes and businesses across Puerto Rico still had no power Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the island of 3.3 million people.

For many, like Pedro Hernandez and his family in Yauco, that meant powering up a generator for simple, everyday tasks around the home.

"We've got to turn the generator on early so as to start breakfast, the fridge so that it can all stay cool. And then to turn it off to save on gas, which is scarce. You can't have it always on. You spend the day without the generator and at night you turn it on again to keep frozen food from thawing. Now it's a little complicated because we also don't have water so it's a little more complicated."

Five years earlier, Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory, leaving 3,000 dead and the island without power.

And despite efforts by Puerto Rico's power authority to rebuild the system, Mireilly Ramos was shocked at how badly the power grid failed once again.

"I didn't think Fiona was so strong as to bring the grid down. But hopefully it comes back quickly because many people need electricity. It wasn't that bad. They need to bring it back quicker, everything is at a standstill. Work needs to be quicker, the city needs it."

The storm made landfall on Puerto Rico on Sunday, causing widespread flooding that submerged cars, flattened plantain fields and stranded ferries in the sand.

Hurricane Fiona continued north, lashing the Dominican Republican and crashing into the Islands of Turks and Caicos on Tuesday as a Category 3 storm.