P.R.: TOuGH
Fed aid amid suffering slowly takes shape
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma should include financial assistance for Puerto Rico. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.,) spent the day on the island.
“Tremendous damage. Potential for serious crisis in areas outside of San Juan MUST get power crews in ASAP,” he tweeted.
Maria’s death toll rose to 49, including 16 in Puerto Rico.
The storm caused an estimated $40 billion to $85 billion in insured losses, mostly in Puerto Rico, catastrophe-modeling firm AIR Worldwide told The Wall Street Journal. More than 700 FEMA staffers are in the Caribbean to coordinate between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
They’re among the roughly 10,000 federal personnel now spread across the entire region trying to help island communities recover from Maria and Hurricane Irma, which barreled across the Caribbean two weeks before Maria.
Federal workers in Puerto Rico supplied diesel to fuel generators at hospitals and delivered desperately needed food and water to hard-hit communities.
Cargo flights brought in additional supplies, and barges loaded with goods lumbered into island ports.
San Juan’s international airport handled nearly 100 arrivals and departures Sunday, including military and relief operations.
The Pentagon dispatched the Navy amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, which provided helicopters and Marines to help with the relief effort onshore.
But the Trump administration Monday refused to waive federal restrictions on foreign ships’ transportation of cargo — even though those same rules were waived to help Texas and Florida recover from Harvey and Irma.
The Jones Act requires that goods transported between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flagged ships.
In Trump’s initial response to Puerto Rico, he said the island was “absolutely obliterated” and in “very tough shape.” But over the weekend, he didn’t mention the growing disaster, choosing instead to tweet criticisms of NFL football players who protest during the national anthem.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the federal response Monday, saying “there’s been an unprecedented push-through of billions of dollars in federal assistance.”
But in Puerto Rico, residents were desperately pleading for government help for basics like food and water. The storm destroyed 80% of the crops on the island, according to Carlos Flores Ortega, Puerto Rico’s agriculture secretary.
“The hurricane was just the beginning,” said Puerto Rican lawyer and writer Armando Valdes. “The real crisis is now.”
Valdes went with a group of volunteers to visit senior and lowincome residents inside a 14-story building with more than 200 residents in San Juan. They discovered trapped residents who couldn’t remember the last time they had eaten.
“What we found was heartbreaking,” he tweeted. truly