President Biden traveled to a ravaged Puerto Rico to tour the island and is ready to pivot to Florida tomorrow as frustration builds together with floodwaters.
“I’m heading to Puerto Rico because they haven’t been taken very good care of. They’ve been trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can,” Biden informed reporters earlier than leaving the White House Monday, in response to pool experiences.
The U.S. territory was nonetheless within the means of recovering from the harm carried out practically 5 years in the past by Hurricane Maria when final week Hurricane Fiona ripped its method throughout the island and introduced down the complete electrical grid, leaving over 3 million American residents with out energy.
Biden’s go to to Puerto Rico comes forward of a deliberate cease in Florida on Wednesday, the place final week Hurricane Ian grew to Category 4 energy earlier than making landfall. The storm resulted within the deaths of at the least 78 individuals and will show to be the most expensive storm to ever hit the Sunshine State.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell informed the press Monday that Category 1 Fiona’s monetary impression on Puerto Rico and the price of restoration will run into the billions of {dollars}. The Federal Emergency Management Agency despatched over 1,000 staff to the island to assist with restoration, the company stated Monday.
“This is in addition to 700 staff who live and work on the island and the hundreds of trained volunteers who also deployed to assist,” the company stated.
Biden declared an emergency existed on the island forward of the storm’s impression however upgraded that declaration to a significant catastrophe after the toll of the harm and extent of energy losses turned obvious.
Biden’s go to comes practically 5 years after former President Donald Trump visited Puerto Rico following Category 5 Hurricane Maria, a storm that resulted within the deaths of over 3,000 individuals, many effectively after the climate had cleared resulting from energy outages and lack of entry to emergency companies.
As of Monday, about 92% of energy had been restored to the island, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed reporters. Criswell informed reporters FEMA didn’t understand how lengthy it will take for full service to be restored.
“I do not have an estimate. What I know is that we are working into some of the hardest-hit areas, and it’s about getting to the homes that are in some of the mountainous regions where they have accessibility issues because so many roads were washed out, and it’s getting to those house-by-house pieces now to make sure each house can receive power so we can then get to that 100 percent goal,” she stated.
The nation is coping with 462 declared disasters, in response to FEMA.
“Nearly 10,000 staff are deployed to 462 disasters across the country, to communities that need our help. This includes 520 personnel in Kentucky for flooding, 221 in Missouri for severe storms, 891 in Puerto Rico for Hurricane Fiona and 789 in Florida for Hurricane Ian,” the company stated.
Herald wire companies contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”