Puerto Rico may be without power for months
Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million people have been warned they could be without electricity for months after the island was battered by hurricane Maria.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. territory had been “absolutely obliterated” and was in “very, very, very tough shape.”
He declared a major disaster, making federal government funds available, and said he would visit soon. He said the recovery would start with “great gusto.”
Carmen Yulin Cruz, mayor of San Juan, the capital, said: “The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there. We’re looking at four to six months without electricity.”
In the capital, towering eucalyptus trees fell and residents described spending many hours huddled in stairwells as the storm raged.
It blew out windows at hospitals and police stations, destroyed homes, and turned some streets into roaring rivers.
Communities across Puerto Rico remained isolated and without communication as uprooted trees blocked roads and people resorted to rafts and kayaks to get around.
Ricardo Rossello, the island’s governor, also said it may take months to restore power and he issued a nightly curfew amid widespread warnings of flash floods and landslides.
There was one death reported so far after a man was struck by a piece of flying wood, he said.
Rescuers were also searching for a boat that went missing off the island, with two adults and two children aboard, after it sent a distress signal.
Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, said: “Months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this.”
Puerto Rico’s electric grid was already crumbling before Maria hit, and an economic crisis had already sparked an exodus of nearly half a million Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland.
Edwin Rosario, 79, a retired government worker, said: “Only us old people are left. A lot of young people have already gone. If we don’t unite, we’re not going to bounce back.”
Before hitting Puerto Rico, the storm devastated the island of Dominica where 15 people were killed, with another 20 still missing.
After Puerto Rico, it went on to flood parts of the Dominican Republic, where 1,255 homes were damaged.
It was expected to pass near the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the southeastern Bahamas.
Maria followed less than two weeks after hurricane Irma wreaked havoc across the Caribbean.