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Communication lines down in Puerto Rico as officials rush to evacuate residents Crisis grows in Puerto Rico as towns without water, power and phone service
(about 4 hours later)
Puerto Rican officials could not communicate with more than half the towns in the US territory as they rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of people downstream of a failing dam and the massive scale of the disaster wrought by Hurricane Maria started to become clear. A humanitarian crisis grew on Saturday in Puerto Rico as towns were left without fresh water, fuel, power or phone service following Hurricane Maria’s devastating passage across the US territory.
Authorities launched an evacuation of the 70,000 people living downstream from the Guajataca Dam in north-west Puerto Rico, sending buses to move people away on Friday and posting frantic warnings on Twitter that went unseen by many in the blacked-out coastal area. The death toll on the island stood on Saturday at 10, including two police officers who drowned in floodwaters in the western town of Aguada. That number was expected to climb as officials from remote towns continued to check in with officials in the capital, San Juan.
“This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION,” the National Weather Service (NWS) wrote. “All the areas around the Guajataca River must evacuate NOW. Your lives are in DANGER.” A group of anxious mayors arrived in the capital on Saturday to meet Governor Ricardo Roselló and present a long list of urgently needed items. The north coastal town of Manati had run out of fuel and fresh water, Mayor Jose Sanchez Gonzalez said.
The 345-yard (316m) dam, which was built around 1928, holds back a man-made lake covering about 2 sq miles (5 sq km). More than 15in (nearly 40cm) of rain fell on the surrounding mountains after the category 4 Maria left the island on Wednesday afternoon, swelling the reservoir behind the nearly 90-year-old dam. “Hysteria is starting to spread,” he said, crying. “The hospital is about to collapse. It’s at capacity. We need someone to help us immediately.”
An engineer inspecting the dam reported a “contained breach” that officials quickly realized was a crack that could be the first sign of total failure of the dam, NWS meteorologist Anthony Reynes said. Authorities in the town of Vega Alta on the north coast said they had been unable to reach an entire neighborhood called Fatima and were particularly worried about residents of a nursing home.
“There’s no clue as to how long or how this can evolve. That is why the authorities are moving so fast because they also have the challenges of all the debris. It is a really, really dire situation,” Reynes said. “I need to get there today,” Mayor Oscar Santiago said. “Not tomorrow, today.”
Government spokesman Carlos Bermudez said that officials could not reach 40 of the 78 municipalities on the island more than two days after the hurricane crossed the island, toppling power lines and cellphone towers and sending floodwaters cascading through city streets. Rosselló said Maria would clearly cost more than the last major storm to hit the island, Hurricane George in September 1998. “This is without a doubt the biggest catastrophe in modern history for Puerto Rico,” he said.
Officials said 1,360 of the island’s 1,600 cellphone towers had been downed and 85% of above-ground and underground phone and internet cables were knocked out. With roads blocked and phones dead, officials said, the situation may be worse than they know. A dam upstream of the towns of Quebradillas and Isabela in the north-west of the island was cracked but had not burst by Saturday afternoon as the water continued to pour out of rain-swollen Lake Guajataca. Federal officials said on Friday that 70,000 people in the surrounding area would have to be evacuated.
“We haven’t seen the extent of the damage,” Governor Ricardo Rosselló told reporters in the capital. Rosselló couldn’t say when power might be restored. But Javier Jimenez, mayor of the nearby town of San Sebastian, said he believed the number was far smaller. Secretary of public affairs Ramón Rosario said about 300 families were in harm’s way.
Derek Rydholm, deputy to the chief of the US air force reserve, said at the Pentagon that it was impossible to say when communication and power would be restored. He said mobile communications systems were being flown in. The governor said there was “significant damage” to the dam and authorities believed it could give way at any moment. “We don’t know how long it’s going to hold,” Rossello said. “The integrity of the structure has been compromised in a significant way.”
Rydholm said “it’s going to take a while” before people in Puerto Rico will be able to communicate with their families outside the island. Until Friday, he said, “there was no real understanding at all of the gravity of the situation”. The 345-yard (316m) dam, which was built around 1928, holds back a manmade lake covering about 2 sq miles (5 sq km). More than 15in or nearly 40cm of rain from Maria fell on the surrounding mountains, swelling the reservoir.
The island’s electric grid was in sorry shape long before Maria struck. The territory’s $73bn debt crisis has left agencies like the state power company broke. It abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts. Officials said 1,360 of the island’s 1,600 cellphone towers were down and 85% of above-ground and underground phone and internet cables were knocked out. With roads blocked and phones dead, officials said, the situation may worsen.
“Some transmission structures collapsed,” Rossello said, adding that there was no severe damage to electric plants. He said he was distributing 250 satellite phones from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (Fema) to mayors across the island to re-establish contact. “We haven’t seen the extent of the damage,” Rosselló told reporters in the capital. He could not say when power might be restored. Derek Rydholm, deputy to the chief of the US Air Force Reserve, said mobile communications systems were being flown in but acknowledged “it’s going to take a while” before people in Puerto Rico will be able to communicate with their families outside the island.
The death toll from Maria in Puerto Rico stood at six, but was likely to rise. At least 27 lives in all have been lost around the Caribbean, including at least 15 on Dominica. Haiti reported three deaths; Guadeloupe two; and the Dominican Republic one. The island’s electric grid was in sorry shape long before Maria struck. The territory’s $73bn debt crisis has left agencies such as the state power company broke. It abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts. Rosello said he was distributing 250 satellite phones from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to mayors across the island to re-establish contact.
Across Puerto Rico, more than 15,000 people are in shelters, including some 2,000 rescued from the north coastal town of Toa Baja. At least 31 people have died around the Caribbean, including at least 15 on hard-hit Dominica. Haiti reported three deaths; Guadeloupe two; and the Dominican Republic one.
Some of the island’s 3.4 million people planned to head to the US to temporarily escape the devastation. At least in the short term, though, the soggy misery will continue: Additional rain – up to 6in – was expected through Saturday. Across Puerto Rico, more than 15,000 people were in shelters, including some 2,000 rescued from the north coastal town of Toa Baja. Some of the island’s 3.4 million people planned to head to the US to temporarily escape the devastation. At least in the short term, though, the soggy misery will continue: Additional rain up to 6in (15cm) was expected through Saturday.
In San Juan, Neida Febus wandered around her neighborhood with bowls of cooked rice, ground meat and avocado, offering food to the hungry. The damage was so extensive, the 64-year-old retiree said, that she didn’t think the power would be turned back on until Christmas. In San Juan, Neida Febus wandered around her neighborhood with bowls of cooked rice, ground meat and avocado, offering food to the hungry. The damage was so extensive, the 64-year-old retiree said, that she did not think the power would be turned back on until Christmas.
“This storm crushed us from one end of the island to the other,” she said.“This storm crushed us from one end of the island to the other,” she said.
Secretary of state Luis Marin said he expects gasoline supplies to be at 80% of capacity because the port in the southeastern town of Yabucoa that receives fuel shipments received minor damage. Hour-long lines formed at the few gas stations that reopened on Friday and anxious residents feared power could be out for weeks or even months.
Hour-long lines formed at the few gas stations that reopened on Friday and anxious residents feared power could be out for weeks – or even months – and wondered how they would cope. “I’m from here,” said Israel Molina, 68, who lost roofing from his San Juan mini-market to the storm. “I believe we have to step up to the task. If everyone leaves, what are we going to do? With all the pros and the cons, I will stay here.
“I’m from here. I believe we have to step up to the task. If everyone leaves, what are we going to do? With all the pros and the cons, I will stay here,” Israel Molina, 68, who lost roofing from his San Juan mini-market to the storm, said, and then paused.
“I might have a different response tomorrow.”“I might have a different response tomorrow.”