Trump to visit Puerto Rico next week
U.S. President Donald Trump is sending “America’s hearts and prayers” to people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and says he’ll visit both places next week.
Trump said Tuesday that a “massive” effort to help people recover from Hurricane Maria is underway. He added that includes the military, though he did not give specifics.
Trump spoke in the White House Rose Garden after he received criticism from some U.S. lawmakers that the administration’s response to Hurricane Maria has fallen short of its efforts in Texas and Florida after storms there.
A group of 10 Democratic senators has requested that Congress immediately take up legislation to help the residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The lawmakers say a supplemental spending bill is needed right away because of the devastation brought by Hurricanes Maria and Irma.
They say the two U.S. territories need financial help to rebuild homes, provide temporary housing and repair vital infrastructure. Without it, they say the challenging road to recovery will only be prolonged.
The lawmakers are making the request as part of a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Meanwhile the U.S. federal government will pick up 100 per cent of the costs of for debris removal and other emergency assistance provided to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
Trump made the change Tuesday as part of an amendment to his earlier disaster declaration authorizing federal aid in response to the Category 4 storm. U.S. states and territories typically cover 25 per cent of the costs, with the federal government paying the remaining 75 per cent.
Puerto Rican officials and sympathetic members of Congress had called on Trump to relieve the island’s cash-strapped government of the cost-sharing requirement.
Trump’s declaration covers costs for removing downed trees, utility poles and other debris, as well as spending for emergency protective measures taken to save lives, protect public health and ensure public safety.
Supermarkets are gradually re-opening in hurricaneravaged Puerto Rico, but the situation is far from normal and many customers are going home disappointed.
Most food stores and restaurants remain closed, largely because power is out for most of the island and few have generators or enough diesel to power them. The shops that were open Monday had long lines outside and vast empty shelves where they once held milk, meat and other perishables. Drinking water was nowhere to be found.
Mercedes Caro shook her head in frustration as she emerged from the SuperMax in the Condado neighbourhood of San Juan with a loaf of white bread, cheese and bananas.
“There is no water and practically no food,” she said. “Not even spaghetti.”
Maria Perez waited outside a Pueblo supermarket in a nearby part of San Juan, hoping to buy some coffee, sugar and maybe a little meat to cook with a gas stove that has enough propane for about another week.
“We are in a crisis,” Perez said. “Puerto Rico is destroyed.”
The fact that some stores and restaurants have re-opened for the first time since Category 4 Hurricane Maria roared across the island Sept. 20 is welcome in a place where nearly everyone has no power and more than half the people don’t have water.
Gov. Ricardo Rossello and other Puerto Rican officials said some ports have been cleared by the Coast Guard to resume accepting ships, which should allow businesses to restock. But the situation remains far from normal.
Therese Casper was among several dozen people waiting for a Walmart to open in the Santurce section of San Juan, but that didn’t happen Monday. She and her husband were looking for something to get rid of all the moisture that had accumulated in the apartment they rented three weeks ago when they moved to Puerto Rico from Denver, Colorado.