NEW YORK -- A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the US territory prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve, leaving more than 1.3 million clients without power, according to official source.

"The outage hit at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as electrical appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators turned them on," said The Associated Press about the accident.

Nearly 90 percent of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were left in the dark, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution.

The company said it was activating emergency operations to restore power and described the blackout as "systemwide", while restoring power could take up to two days.

"Puerto Rico has faced a series of blackouts since 2017, when Hurricane Maria severely damaged the island, including its power grid," reported The New York Times.

The blackout appeared to be significantly bigger than the outages this summer. A blackout in June left about 350,000 customers without power. In August, 700,000 lost power in the wake of Hurricane Ernesto.