‘HYSTERIA’

PUERTO RICO’S governor declared Hurricane Maria the worst catastrophe in island history Saturday as despairing residents struggled without water, fuel, phones and power.

“Hysteria is starting to spread,” said Mayor Jose Sanchez Garcia of the northern coast town of Manati. “The hospital (in our town) is about to collapse. It’s at capacity.

“We need someone to help us immediately.”

Puerto Rican officials are also holding their breath that a crack in an 88-year-old dam would not lead to a total collapse and massive flooding at Lake Guajataca.

The reservoir was near capacity after 15 inches of rain fell on the surrounding mountains. Attempts to evacuate the area downstream were plagued by outages in the nation’s communications systems.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello said it was unclear how long the damaged dam would hold.

But some residents returned to their homes later in the day after a spillway eased pressure on the 120-foot high structure.

“There were a lot of people worried and crying, but that’s natural because the reservoir was about to break through,” said resident Maria Nieves, 43.

A flash flood warning remained in effect for the towns of Isabela and Quebradillas, with a combined population of 70,000, as the dam held Saturday.

Authorities dispatched buses to the region to ferry residents to higher ground.

Rossello flatly declared that Maria was “without a doubt the biggest catastrophe in modern history for Puerto Rico.” The cost of damages would exceed the total for the last major storm to batter the country — Hurricane George in September 1998.

The island’s hurricane death toll is at least 10, a number that is expected to grow, according to Gov. Ricardo Rossello. That number is down from the estimate of 13 Rossello gave on Friday.

Two of the dead included police officers killed in floodwaters in the town of Aguada.

Officials in the coastal town of Vega Alta were desperate to reach a flooded neighborhood with a nursing home full of elderly residents.

“I need to get there today,” said Vega Alta Mayor Oscar Santiago. “Not tomorrow, today.”

Dozens of mayors from across Puerto Rico met the governor Saturday with lengthy lists of items in scarily short supply.

More than half of the U.S. territory’s 78 battered municipalities were completely out of contact with the government, said Carlos Bermudez, a government spokesman.

Officials said 1,360 of Puerto

Desperate to communicate with the outside world, Puerto Ricans stop on highway near cell phone tower. Satellite dishes on roofs of homes (right) were useless as floods (left) continued to plague island’s beleaguered population.