Social The 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season (Harvey/Irma/Maria PBP)

[Arkain2K]

San Juan mayor's complaints dismissed as 'political noise' by FEMA chief
By ELLIE SMITH | Oct 8, 2017

​

The San Juan mayor’s continuing complaints about the federal emergency response to the devastation in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria are just "political noise," said Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We filtered out the mayor a long time ago," Long told ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday. "We don't have time for the political noise.”

The mayor of Puerto Rico's capital city, Carmen Yulín Cruz, has slammed President Donald Trump and the federal response to the damage to the U.S. territory since Hurricane Maria struck over two weeks ago.

Cruz continued her criticism in a tweet this morning, claiming that San Juan had requested support from FEMA following power outages but had received “nothing,” and that the U.S. government “does not want to help.”




Long said FEMA is flying patients from Puerto Rican hospitals without power to a massive Naval hospital ship, the U.S.N.S. Comfort docked at San Juan.

He added that in regard to ongoing work to restore Puerto Rico's power grid, "we're restringing a very fragile system every day. As we make progress, simple thunderstorms pass through, knock the progress out."

With another hurricane, Nate, having hit the Gulf Coast early today -- the fourth to make landfall in the U.S. this hurricane season -- the FEMA chief told Raddatz that the emergency management agency is stretched thin.

“Money’s not the issue. Congress has been on top of that working with us,” Long said.

But, he said, the "bottom line is ... that over nearly 85 percent of my entire agency is deployed right now. We're still working massive issues in [response to hurricanes] Harvey, Irma, as well as the issues in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and now this one."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/san-...missed-political-noise-fema/story?id=50353414

 

[Arkain2K]

Head of FEMA Says Puerto Rican Politics Slowed Storm Response
By Christopher Flavelle | October 9, 2017

​

"Politics between Republicans and Democrats is bad enough -- but in Puerto Rico, politics is even worse," Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said at a briefing with reporters Monday in Washington. "When you can’t get elected officials at the local level to come to a joint field office because they disagree with the politics of the governor that’s there, it makes things difficult."

Almost three weeks after Maria struck Puerto Rico, just 15 percent of the island’s electricity customers have power, according to numbers posted on a website run by the government of Puerto Rico. Half the island lacks phone service, and about 40 percent of households lack access to potable water. Long said the main cause of the slow response lay with the political leaders on the devastated island, not with his agency, which is charged with responding to emergencies.

"I fully believe we did everything we could," he said.

While Long didn’t mention any particular officials by name, he has previously criticized the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, as insufficiently involved in the effort. Cruz and President Donald Trump have been at odds since a week after the hurricane, with the mayor accusing Trump of not doing enough to save lives.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-puerto-rican-politics-slowed-storm-response

 

[Orgasmo]

I said for three weeks now that dumb bitch is playing politics instead of getting her shit together to distribute the supplies. She won't do a damn thing unless the cameras are rolling.

 

[Arkain2K]

FBI Looks Into Complaints of Puerto Rico's Local Government Corruption in Distribution of Relief Goods
By Joshua Philipp, The Epoch Times | October 10, 2017

The FBI is looking into complaints that local government officials in Puerto Rico may have engaged in corruption while distributing U.S. relief goods after Hurricane Maria.

According to Carlos Osorio, the FBI media representative at the San Juan field office, the FBI has received several complaints of alleged corruption in the distribution of relief goods. The agency is required to look into criminal complaints.

“I can’t say how many complaints we’ve had that local officials are misappropriating supplies,” Osorio said.

“We’re looking into [the] complaints, as we do with any complaints that may have a criminal violation nexus.”

The U.S. government recently took over efforts in Puerto Rico to deliver relief goods including food, water, and medicine directly to those in need. On Oct. 8, U.S. troops began handing out the goods directly.

This was a break from protocol, in which typically the United States would bring the goods to regional staging areas and let local mayors distribute the goods from there. The Miami Herald reported this was done since some of the local mayors “stumble on the job.”

The role of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto in the relief efforts has been questioned.

Cruz made headlines for accusing President Donald Trump of not delivering relief to the island. It was soon shown, however, that not only was the Trump administration delivering large amounts of supplies, but in San Juan these supplies were sitting at the port under Cruz’s control and not being delivered.

There were close to 9,500 cargo containers of medicine, food, and other goods stuck at the port of San Juan on Sept. 28, according to CNBC.

Guaynabo Mayor Angel Perez Otero called out Cruz, saying the San Juan mayor was not joining meetings between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. military officials, and Puerto Rican leaders.

“I’ve seen other mayors participating. She’s not,” Perez Otero told The Washington Examiner, adding, “We are receiving a lot of help from FEMA and the Red Cross. … There is lots of help coming to us.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fbi-i...-in-distribution-of-relief-goods_2330936.html

 

[ShadowRun]

Wow and to think from other headlines and social media Trump was the bad guy here and ignored Puerto Rico to get involved in NFL politics. I feel bad for the people there in need. Keep up the good updates Duff man

 

[Fluffernutter]

San Juan mayor's complaints dismissed as 'political noise' by FEMA chief
By ELLIE SMITH | Oct 8, 2017

​

The San Juan mayor’s continuing complaints about the federal emergency response to the devastation in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria are just "political noise," said Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We filtered out the mayor a long time ago," Long told ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday. "We don't have time for the political noise.”

The mayor of Puerto Rico's capital city, Carmen Yulín Cruz, has slammed President Donald Trump and the federal response to the damage to the U.S. territory since Hurricane Maria struck over two weeks ago.

Cruz continued her criticism in a tweet this morning, claiming that San Juan had requested support from FEMA following power outages but had received “nothing,” and that the U.S. government “does not want to help.”




Long said FEMA is flying patients from Puerto Rican hospitals without power to a massive Naval hospital ship, the U.S.N.S. Comfort docked at San Juan.

He added that in regard to ongoing work to restore Puerto Rico's power grid, "we're restringing a very fragile system every day. As we make progress, simple thunderstorms pass through, knock the progress out."

With another hurricane, Nate, having hit the Gulf Coast early today -- the fourth to make landfall in the U.S. this hurricane season -- the FEMA chief told Raddatz that the emergency management agency is stretched thin.

“Money’s not the issue. Congress has been on top of that working with us,” Long said.

But, he said, the "bottom line is ... that over nearly 85 percent of my entire agency is deployed right now. We're still working massive issues in [response to hurricanes] Harvey, Irma, as well as the issues in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and now this one."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/san-...missed-political-noise-fema/story?id=50353414

Head of FEMA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Long

This guys clearly looks like someone that is not simply a political ally or someone who donated to a campaign, and therefore got a particular job they wanted (whether qualified or not).

- School safety planner after graduated from college
- Worked at FEMA's "hurricane" office
- Regional head for disaster relief
- Developed disaster management initiatives for H1N1 Flu and the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The guy knows what he is doing and knows what he is talking about...and has worked for people on both sides of the political spectrum.

 

[Arkain2K]

I said for three weeks now that dumb bitch is playing politics instead of getting her shit together to distribute the supplies. She won't do a damn thing unless the cameras are rolling.

Wow and to think from other headlines and social media Trump was the bad guy here and ignored Puerto Rico to get involved in NFL politics. I feel bad for the people there in need. Keep up the good updates Duff man

Now that the U.S Army have officially taken over the relief operation from the Puerto Rican politicians, I'm optimistic that all the tons upon tons of relief supplies been sitting in San Juan for weeks will soon reach those in needs.

Honestly though, I don't know what kind of people would actually believe San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz's crocodile tears about "The U.S is not sending any aid", "The U.S doesn't want to help us", "The U.S abandoned Puerto Rico", or "It's going to be a genocide", even as thousands of Navy/Army/FEMA personnel are working around the clock on the island, while pallets upon pallets of undistributed relief supplies are in full view in her many televised publicity stunts in San Juan:



FEMA's long-standing policy has always been bringing aid from the outside to major designated distributing centers in a disaster zone (there are 11 centers currently up and running in Puerto Rico), where local mayors can arrange their own city workers to pick up supplies and distribute them to their communities. If Carmen Yulín Cruz honestly think FEMA should do that for her as well and don't even bother showing up to relief coordination meetings, then why the hell are we criticizing Trump for correctly pointing out that she wants everything done for her?

Of all the U.S disaster relief operations that we have seen in our lifetime, I would say the sense of sheer entitlement, completely ungrateful attitude, and relentless opportunistic political campaigning from San Juan certainly takes the cake. Somebody is jockeying for that Governor seat for sure.

 

[Arkain2K]

President Trump: We cannot aid Puerto Rico 'forever'
By Daniella Diaz, CNN | October 12, 2017
​

President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that Puerto Rico is going to have to shoulder more responsibility for recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria, saying the federal government's emergency responders can't stay there "forever."





White House chief of staff John Kelly said at the White House briefing Thursday that Trump's tweet was "exactly accurate" because first responders "are not going to be there forever."

"The minute you go anywhere as a first responder, and this would apply certainly to the military, you will try really hard to work yourself out of a job," he said. "There will be a period in which we hope sooner rather than later, the US military and (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), generally speaking, can withdraw because then the government and people of Puerto Rico are recovering sufficiently to start the process of rebuilding."

A FEMA official told CNN the agency has "no hard deadline" on when it plans to pull resources from the island.

"It all will be determined by the conditions on the ground," the official said.

The official said once things are "stabilized" in Puerto Rico, FEMA will "pull back resources as appropriate," adding that's the "natural progression of a response to a disaster."
FEMA's focus, the official said, is to "move from the response phase to recovery," adding the recovery phase often takes years.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, testifying before the House financial services committee, said that he has "no intention" of abandoning recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.
"They're a very important part of who we are," he said, later adding: "(Puerto Rico) should not be abandoned."

And White House press secretary Sarah Sanders reaffirmed federal support to the island.

"Our job in any disaster affected location is to help the community respond and recover from that disaster. We continue to do so with the full force of the US government and its resources in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and other affected areas," she said. "Successful recoveries do not last forever; they should be as swift as possible to help people resume their normal lives."

Democrats, however, pounced on Trump's tweets.

"Puerto Ricans are Americans, and we don't abandon each other. The federal government should stay in Puerto Rico as long as necessary," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, tweeted.



Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted, "Puerto Rico is still facing a humanitarian crisis. @realDonaldTrump seems more worried about blaming hurricane victims than helping them."



And San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who has feuded publicly with the President over the federal response, said on Twitter that Trump was incapable of fulfilling the moral imperative to help the people of PR. Shame on you.!"

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said in a news conference Thursday that he called the White House looking for clarification on Trump's tweets.

"The law establishes that the aid we are getting from FEMA has to be established for the duration of emergency efforts," he said. 'It's not a decision as is, it's a law that all the resources must be available for Puerto Rico."

However Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania, who is a member of the House foreign affairs committee, told CNN's Chris Cuomo Thursday there's only "so much" the US can do to help Puerto Rico.

"I would then again say, 'What is enough?' What is the right amount to satisfy whoever says we're not doing enough," he said on "New Day." "It's regrettable and it's sad for those people but there only is physically, humanly possible so much that any nation could do in the wake of devastation."

He continued: "I lived through it myself, a victim of floods on numerous occasions, had to clean it up, and I will tell you, nobody came to help us, we handled it ourselves."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/12/politics/donald-trump-puerto-rico-tweets/index.html

 

[Rod1]

Now that the U.S Army have officially taken over the relief operation from the Puerto Rican politicians, I'm optimistic that all the tons upon tons of relief supplies been sitting in San Juan for weeks will soon reach those in needs.

Honestly though, I don't know what kind of people would actually believe San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz's crocodile tears about "The U.S is not sending any aid", "The U.S doesn't want to help us", "The U.S abandoned Puerto Rico", or "It's going to be a genocide", even as thousands of Navy/Army/FEMA personnel are working around the clock on the island, while pallets upon pallets of undistributed relief supplies are in full view in her many televised publicity stunts in San Juan:



FEMA's long-standing policy has always been bringing aid from the outside to major designated distributing centers in a disaster zone (there are 11 centers currently up and running in Puerto Rico), where local mayors can arrange their own city workers to pick up supplies and distribute them to their communities. If Carmen Yulín Cruz honestly think FEMA should do that for her as well and don't even bother showing up to relief coordination meetings, then why the hell are we criticizing Trump for correctly pointing out that she wants everything done for her?

Of all the U.S disaster relief operations that we have seen in our lifetime, I would say the sense of sheer entitlement, completely ungrateful attitude, and relentless opportunistic political campaigning from San Juan certainly takes the cake. Somebody is jockeying for that Governor seat for sure.

Didnt FEMA said that the whole thousands of supplies sittin at docks was fakenews? that it was actually other products that had been sitting these since before the hurricane?

 

[Arkain2K]

Didnt FEMA said that the whole thousands of supplies sittin at docks was fakenews? that it was actually other products that had been sitting these since before the hurricane?

I believe the misunderstanding here is that FEMA is not the only agency/group bringing in aid supplies in shipping containers.

After they got fed up with waiting for the San Juan mayor to show, FEMA had since bypassed the San Juan politicians and found other ways to transport the supplies to the distribution centers themselves as soon as each container arrives (including airlifting them to isolated communities with the help from the DOD).

There are still about ten thousand more (non-FEMA) containers sitting at the Ssn Juan dock with relief supplies from about 14 other agencies and charitable groups also brought over by the Crowley shipping company. They, too, are scrambling to find local truck drivers to distribute them door-to-door themselves, 'cause the local government does fuck all about aid distribution besides whining for - you guess it - more aid.

This is why the Governor initially doesn't understand why his people are still going hungry/thirsty/sick, despite there's no shortage of food/water/medicine being unloaded from container ships every single day ever since the port reopened.

He kinda does now though.

----

Puerto Rico aid is trapped in thousands of shipping containers

A mountain of food, water and other vital supplies has arrived in Puerto Rico's main Port of San Juan.

But a shortage of truckers and the island's devastated infrastructure are making it tough to move aid to where it's needed most,officials say.

At least 10,000 containers of supplies -- including food, water and medicine -- were sitting Thursday at the San Juan port, said Jose Ayala, the Crowley shipping company's vice president in Puerto Rico.

Ayala said the company can't get enough truck drivers or trucks filled up with diesel to pick up supplies for distribution across the island.

"The problem has been with the logistics, the parts of the supply chain that move the cargo from our terminal to the shelves or to the tables of the people in Puerto Rico," Ayala said Wednesday. "This hurricane was catastrophic."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/us/puerto-rico-aid-problem/index.html

 

[Rod1]

I believe the misunderstanding here is that FEMA is not the only agency/group bringing in aid supplies.

After they got fed up with waiting for the San Juan mayor to show, FEMA had since bypassed the San Juan politicians and find other ways to transport their supplies to the distribution centers themselves as soon as each container arrives (including airlifting them to isolated communities with the help from the DOD).

There are still thousand more (non-FEMA) containers sitting at the Ssn Juan dock with relief supplies, such as those brought over by Crowley shipping company. They, too, are scrambling to find truck drivers to distribute them door-to-door themselves, 'cause the local government does fuck all about aid distribution besides whining for - you guess it - more aid.

This is why the Governor initially doesn't understand why his people are still going hungry, while there's no shortage of aid supplies.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/us/puerto-rico-aid-problem/index.html

http://mms.tveyes.com/transcript.asp?PlayClip=FALSE&DTSearch=TRUE&DateTime=09/29/2017+09:22:00&market=m1&StationID=100

Thats the video i got.

Also how many governments do have trucking fleets?

 

[Arkain2K]

Also how many governments do have trucking fleets?

Some do, some don't, some simply don't care, but the Puerto Rican Governor gotta take logistics into account before he insisted to Washington that this relief operation is to be run by his government and not the Federal government. Right?

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Congress and Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló have been jockeying over who should take charge of the humanitarian response effort.​

Rosselló asserted that he was fully in command even as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other lawmakers on the mainland stepped up demands for the appointment of a federal official to oversee relief efforts.​

“Let’s make this clear, this is an operation of the government of Puerto Rico,” Rosselló said. “We set the priorities. . . . We are taking action, and there are results.”​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...f558a6-a460-11e7-8cfe-d5b912fabc99_story.html​

Or may be what he secretly meant is "please bring all the manpower, supplies, and transportation, you guys run the show but let me talk to the camera as the honorary commander", but forgot to wink.

I've mentioned before that major relief operations in a disaster zone of this caliber should be ran by the U.S military, not just because of the men and equipment they already have, but they can cut through all the bureaucratic red tapes and political bullshit. Though I don't agree with him, I understand why the Governor doesn't want to be sidelined for political and optics reasons. It certainly looks like he's winging it instead of having a solid preparation plan for relief operations in place before the hurricane hits though.

Anyway, the bureaucrats are backing down now and a U.S Army General is now running the show, so things should improve from here on out.

 

[Rod1]

Anyway, the bureaucrats are backing down now and a U.S Army General is now running the show, so things should improve from here on out.

The US army should had been called since day one, as you said, you can expect local governments to help out, but when the disaster is absolute, you really need to bring the guys that have the capacity to establish infrastructure from the ground up, and that is usually reserved to the armed forces.

I think people understimated the level of destruction that PR received from Maria.

 

[Arkain2K]

As some Puerto Rico mayors stumble, U.S. militarizes relief campaign
By Tim Johnson | October 08, 2017

​

AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico - As U.S. soldiers Sunday handed out dozens of boxes of emergency food and water rations in this coastal town, a federal relief official pronounced himself satisfied.

“They seem pretty happy right now. I think it’s going great,” said Patrick Hernandez, assistant administrator for field operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Just a few feet away, Serafin Roman looked through cyclone fencing at the distribution scene and offered a radically different view: “It’s nasty. People are desperate. They got no water.... Some people are starving.”

The scene put a vivid spotlight on the gap between some government views of relief efforts for Hurricane Maria, and a somewhat testier view on the street. In some corners of Puerto Rico, deep into the third week of recovery efforts, a smattering of Puerto Ricans said they feel forgotten and vulnerable. Residents and city officials often tell drastically different stories about the frequency of food distribution.

Responding to the evolving crisis, U.S. military officials spelled out Sunday how they will alter the distribution of food, water and fuel to many of the island’s 78 municipalities, militarizing relief efforts in a significant way as some mayors stumble on the job.

Prior to this weekend, relief supplies were delivered to 10 regional staging areas on the island, and mayors were largely responsible for arranging pick-up and distribution.

But Brig. Gen. Jose J. Reyes, assistant adjutant general of the Puerto Rico National Guard, said in an interview that a new strategy calls for placing 10 to 20 soldiers in each municipality, providing them with vehicles and logistical support, and tasking them with delivering relief to each neighborhood.

“We need to push it directly to the barrio to ensure that everyone’s getting it,” Reyes said. “They will have some vehicles. They will have radio communications as well as logistics support.... They are going to be living there. They are going to be operating 24/7.”

In Puerto Rico’s 10 largest cities, each with a population greater than 150,000 people, city halls will continue to manage distribution, Reyes said, but not so in the smaller towns.

The commander of relief efforts, Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, acknowledged that distribution of aid on the municipal level has not always gone smoothly.

“We’re relentless in looking for areas that are bottlenecks,” Buchanan said at a San Juan airfield before boarding a helicopter for Aguadilla, some 80 miles to the west of the capital.

“We shouldn’t pretend that this is going to be pain-free,” he said, noting that mayors can feel a variety of constraints in delivering aid, from damaged roads and lack of vehicles to poor communications and large geographical areas with sparse population.

Some anger was palpable Sunday at the relief distribution scene in Aguadilla. But that sentiment of frustration is not uniform. Some municipalities are handling relief efforts much better than other ones. Among the hardest hit areas from the Sept. 20 hurricane, some are so remote that they require ongoing helicopter air-drops of food and water due to impassable roads.

Sheila Lenox, 29, said Sunday’s box of food was the first substantial aid she had seen.

“This is the first time here that they come with a nice box full of stuff for us,” said Lenox, who is unemployed. “We’ve been eating what our neighbors give us.”

Asked how she had survived, her partner, Jetson Samot, responded: “Sausage.”

“Sausage and crackers,” Lenox added.

“There’s no way for us to buy anything. The supermarkets, they upped the prices on everything. It’s hard for us to find any food. We have a place to live but we don’t have nothing to nurture our body with,” Lenox said.

Another resident, Carmen Santiago, a 67-year-old retiree, said she wished there was more discipline and logic in distribution to avoid having some residents take too much, and leaving others without.

“They should give a set amount to each apartment,” she said. “That way, no one takes too much. They take just what is due them.”

Told that some residents complained Sunday that it was the first delivery of any food or water to the district, Mayor Carlos Mendez disputed that.

“They’ve received it. I’ve come here three or four times before,” Mendez said.

Mendez said relief got off to a “slow start. But we’re doing good now.”

“Everybody’s thirsty, everybody’s hungry because they don’t get food every single day. But at least we take it to them every four or five days.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article177771811.html

 

[Arkain2K]

The US army should had been called since day one, as you said, you can expect local governments to help out, but when the disaster is absolute, you really need to bring the guys that have the capacity to establish infrastructure from the ground up, and that is usually reserved to the armed forces.

I think people understimated the level of destruction that PR received from Maria.

That would be the logical choice, but then you already heard the FEMA chief talked about the effort is being hindered by Puerto Rican political dramas.

It's illegal for a President to unilaterally mobilize the U.S Army/Air Force and militarize a domestic civilian operation in a State or U.S Territory, without an Act of Congress or a direct request from the sitting Governor of said State or Territory for Federal personnel to take over the operation from the State.

The MSM refuse to mention it, but this well-known law to restrict the mobilization of Federal troops domestically is called the Posse Comitatus Act, and was the subject of great debate in regards to Executive Powers during the Bush and Obama years.

That's why you only see National Guardsmen helping clear the roads, the Corps of Engineers restoring phone services, and the Navy taking care of patients off-shore on their ships, but the relief operation on the ground is civilian in nature, ran by the Puerto Rican government as they demanded.

It's the reason why the full might of the U.S military were able to take over a foreign country like Haiti and assume all relief operations immediately, while the U.S Army is just now taking over, after the politicians there backed down from their demands to be in charge.

Haiti immediately requested the U.S military to put boots on the ground and bring chaos back to order when Haitians began killing each other with machetes on the street for scraps of food. The Puerto Rican government keep saying they want more aid, but steadfastly refuse to hand the relief operation over to the Federal government because they care more about their political image.

Then again, I'm sure that interesting bit about the Puerto Rico Governor refusing to play the supporting role (much to Marco Rubio's chagrin) was buried pretty deep under the partisan noise as well.

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Arkain2K]

2017 Hurricane Season Was the Most Expensive in U.S. History
A series of major storms, including Harvey, Maria, and Irma, have caused unprecedented amounts of damage.
By Willie Drye | November 30, 2017

An explosive September brought a spectacular end to an unusual streak of good luck that had kept major hurricanes away from U.S. shores for more than a decade, and the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season will now go down as the most expensive on record.

Two major hurricanes—Harvey and Irma—blasted the U.S. coast with winds exceeding 130 miles per hour (mph), and savage Hurricane Maria rocked Puerto Rico with winds exceeding 155 mph.

Totals are still being calculated, but early tabulations indicate that the U.S. suffered more than $200 billion worth of damage from 17 named storms during the season, which began June 1 and ends Thursday, November 30. That easily eclipses the previous record of about $159 billion, set during the summer of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina inflicted massive devastation on New Orleans. A record 28 named storms formed that year.

Most of this summer’s damage was caused by the infamous trio of Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Besides its winds, Harvey flooded Houston with more than four feet of rainfall as it made landfall August 25. Irma battered the Caribbean before coming ashore in the Florida Keys on September 10. And Maria destroyed homes and much of the infrastructure in Puerto Rico and inflicted a devastating disaster on the island when it came ashore on September 20.

Some estimates put Hurricane Harvey’s damage as high as $180 billion. The Bloomberg Business website recently reported more conservative estimates, pegging the combined total from Harvey, Irma, and Maria at about $202.6 billion.

In contrast, the infamous Hurricane Andrew that ravaged Florida in 1992 cost about $15.5 billion. The great Galveston hurricane of 1900 caused $20 million in damage (in 1900 dollars). Adjusted for inflation that's about $605 million in 2016 dollars. That's a sum that would likely be vastly higher today given the relatively higher costs of modern development.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/2017-hurricane-season-most-expensive-us-history-spd/

 

[Arkain2K]

Hurricane Irma could knock out electricity for up to 6 months in Puerto Rico
By Rebecca Harrington | Sept 6, 2017​

Waves crash against the seawall as Hurricane Irma slammed across islands in the northern Caribbean on Wednesday, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico September 6, 2017
​

Hurricane Irma has already left hundreds of thousands of residents of Puerto Rico without electricity hours before the worst of the storm is expected to hit.

Nearly 300,000 people were already without power by Wednesday afternoon, The New York Times reported. About 4,000 were without water because the electricity was out.

The Miami Herald reported that parts of the island could be without power for four to six months.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday the eye of the storm was still about 70 miles northeast of San Juan, but the island was already feeling the storm's tropical forces.

The National Hurricane Center's forecast Wednesday afternoon predicted that the Category 5 storm would start pounding Puerto Rico within hours, passing by the island's northern coast.

Just after 3 p.m. local time, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello reported about 2,800 people and 230 pets were already taking refuge in shelters after evacuating.

Ricardo Ramos, director of the Puerto Rico's sole power company, PREPA, told local radio station NotiUno on Tuesday that some residents could have their power restored in as soon as a week, while for others it could take months.

Part of the problem is the island's debt crisis and crumbling infrastructure. PREPA, a government-owned utility, defaulted on nearly $9 billion in debt in July, NPR reported.

"The dangerousness of this event is like nothing we've ever seen," the Rossello said. "A lot of infrastructure won't be able to withstand this kind of force."

He urged residents in the path of the storm to evacuate, and President Donald Trump declared a federal emergency in Puerto Rico to free up federal resources.

The NHC predicted Irma would pass just north of Puerto Rico Wednesday night, and put the commonwealth under a hurricane warning.

Rainfall totals were forecasted to reach 4 to 10 inches, with isolated totals up to 14 inches. The storm surge — the quick rise in water caused by a hurricane's strong winds — was projected to reach 4 to 6 feet above ground on the northern coast, and 2 to 4 feet on the southern coast.

Hurricane Irma's maximum sustained winds were still 185 mph on Wednesday afternoon, and the NHC didn't expect them to slow down for days.

The storm is the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded outside of the Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea, and the extent of its damages are just beginning to emerge.

http://www.businessinsider.com/hurr...-could-lose-electricity-for-4-6-months-2017-9

Puerto Rico: Power restored to 55% of customers, governor's office says
By Ralph Ellis and Leyla Santiago, CNN | December 29, 2017

​

San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) Exactly how bad was Puerto Rico's power system damaged by Hurricane Maria? Everybody knows a lot of people were in the dark, but information provided by authorities has been confusing.

The picture became a little clearer Friday. The governor's office announced that "approximately 55% of the customers who are able to receive electric power have their service restored." Customers were defined as "residential, commercial and industrial clients," not individual people.

Previously, the government talked about only percentage of power-generating capacity restored, a figure that does not reflect the number or percentage of Puerto Rico's population that has power.

Back in mid-November, for instance, the governor celebrated power generation on the island reaching 50% of capacity.

A US Energy Department official said December 19 that nearly 70% of the island's power generation capacity was back online. The federal government says data on the number of residents receiving power is no longer available.

The Army Corps of Engineers has projected that power will be restored for most people by March, but those in very remote areas might have to wait until May because of the difficulty in moving supplies.

Efforts to bring back power have been hampered by the remoteness of some residents and lack of materials.

The Army Corps of Engineers has said there's a shortage of supplies because of other natural disasters in the United States.

In a Friday tweet, the Army Corps said it had received 14,050 poles and 330 miles of conductor wire for Puerto Rico to date. About 6,000 poles and 1,200 miles of wire were scheduled to arrive in the next two weeks, the tweet said.



In Yabucoa, a town of about 38,000 located on the southeast corner of the island, power has been partially restored, but Mayor Rafael Surillo said he thinks it will be six months before people who live in the mountains above the town will obtain power. He said power company workers spent a month in the area but didn't have the materials to do the work.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló recently asked US power companies to send workers to Puerto Rico to help with the job.

Florida Power and Light said 140 lineworkers and support staff will travel to Puerto Rico in early January to do their part. Equipment was shipped ahead of their arrival.

Hurricane Maria was a Category 4 hurricane that struck Puerto Rico in mid-September. It was the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in 85 years and left much of the island without power or water.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/29/us/puerto-rico-power-update/index.html

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Arkain2K]