NEW HELL AND DAM-NATION
70K forced to flee as barrier bursts
Storm-battered Puerto Rico struggled through more Maria-related chaos Friday, as the island remained without power and a dam failure forced the evacuation of two towns.
“There’s still some rain and, of course, the soils are saturated, so it’s still not safe to go outside,” Gov. Ricardo Rossello told MSNBC.
“We’re still on emergency protocol, and our main objective right now is making sure people are safe.”
The US National Weather Service’s office in San Juan blasted out a tweet Friday afternoon, warning residents that the 90-year-old Guajataca Dam in western Puerto Rico was failing, causing flash flooding in the area.
“This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION,” the tweet read. “Buses are currently evacuating people from the area as quickly as they can.”
The dam failure prompted evacuations in the towns of Isabela and Quebradillas, which are home to 70,000 people.
“We don’t know the details. It’s time to get people out,” Rossello said.
Nearly 700 people have been rescued from rising floodwaters across the island, as the death toll there from Hurricane Maria jumped to at least 13.
Among the dead were eight residents who drowned in Toa Baja, 20 miles west of San Juan, according to the municipality’s mayor, Bernardo Márquez.
Three elderly sisters were also killed by a mudslide in the mountainous central municipality of Utuado.
Maria’s total death toll in the Caribbean hit 34 on Friday and was expected to rise.
Puerto Rico’s electricity and
telecommunications infrastructure were obliterated by the hurricane, the strongest storm to hit the US territory in more than 80 years.
“Part of the island is lacking communications, so what we have are some preliminary assessments about 13 deaths at this juncture,” Rossello told CNN early Friday.
“We’re 24 hours post-hurricane warning, and right now, our efforts are to make sure we have everybody safe, that we can rescue people.”
Resident Alana Yendez, 44, called the situation “an absolute crisis . . . There’s so much flooding. My roof completely collapsed.”
The Army Corps of Engineers said 95 to 100 percent of Puerto Rico remained without power.
Meanwhile, New York politicians with family in Puerto Rico embarked for the island accompanied by Gov. Cuomo.
They included Bronx Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, who said he had not been able to reach his mother on the island for four days.
“Today is Mommy’s birthday,” Crespo said anxiously.
US Rep. Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn struggled to keep her composure as she prepared to board a flight arranged by JetBlue.
“For me, this is personal,” she said. “I have not been able to talk to my family yet.”
Cuomo and the team brought 36,000 bottles of water and 10,000 ready-to-eat meals.
City Council Speaker Mel- issa Mark Viverito said the city is sending police and firefighters to assist in the recovery.
The Category 3 storm was churning northeast of the Turks and Caicos early Friday packing 125 mph winds.
The National Hurricane Center expects Maria to drench areas with up to 20 inches of rain and raise water levels by up to 12 feet. Its eye will move east of the Bahamas through Sunday.
By the middle of next week, the hurricane will be closer to the US East Coast, but the hurricane center said it was “too soon to determine what, if any, direct impacts there might be in these areas.”