An aerial view shows the damage to the
Guajataca dam in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Photograph: Alvin Baez/Reuters
Large amounts of federal aid began moving into
Puerto Rico on Saturday, as the island tried to
recover from a battering by hurricane Maria. Local
officials praised the Trump administration’s
response but also called for the emergency loosening
of rules long blamed for condemning the US territory
to second-class economic status.
In the north-west of the island, people began returning
to their homes after a spillway eased pressure on a dam
that cracked after more than 1ft of rain fell in the
wake of the hurricane. Though water continued to pour
out of rain-swollen Lake Guajataca, the dam had not
burst by Saturday night.
Upstream of the towns of Quebradillas and Isabela, the
state of the dam had prompted stern official warnings
from Governor Ricardo Rossello and the US National
Weather Service (NWS). Federal
officials said Friday that 70,000 people would have
to be evacuated, although Javier Jimenez, mayor of the
nearby town of San Sebastian, said he believed the
number was far smaller. Secretary of Public Affairs
Ramon Rosario said about 300 families were in harm’s
way.
The NWS extended a flash flood watch for communities
along the rain-swollen Guajataca River until 2pm local
time on Sunday. If the dam failed, the NWS warned, the
flooding would be life-threatening. “Stay away or be
swept away,” it said.
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.”
Some residents nonetheless returned to their homes on
Saturday as water levels in the reservoir began to sink.
“There were a lot of people worried and crying, but
that’s natural, because the reservoir was about to break
through,” said Maria Nieves, 43. “They couldn’t open the
spillway until later in the night.”
The 345-yard dam, which was built around 1928, holds
back a man-made lake covering about two square miles.
More than 15in of rain from Maria fell on the
surrounding mountains.
The aid effort quickened with the opening of the
island’s main port in the capital, San Juan, allowing 11
ships to bring in 1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000
cots, dozens of generators and food. Dozens more
shipments are expected in upcoming days.
The federal aid effort is racing to stem a growing
crisis in towns left without water, fuel, electricity or
phone service. Officials with the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (Fema) said they would take satellite
phones to all of Puerto Rico’s towns and cities, more
than half of which were cut off.
The island’s infrastructure was in sorry shape long
before Maria struck. A $73bn debt crisis has left
agencies like the state power company broke. As a result
the power company abandoned most basic maintenance in
recent years, leaving the island subject to regular
blackouts.
A federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s
finances authorized up to $1bn in local funds to be used
for hurricane response, but Governor Rossello said he
would ask for more.
“We’re going to request waivers and other mechanisms
so Puerto Rico can respond to this crisis,” he said.
“Puerto Rico will practically collect no taxes in the
next month.”
US representative Nydia Velazquez of New York said
she would request a one-year waiver from the Jones Act,
a federal law blamed for driving up prices on Puerto
Rico by requiring cargo shipments to move only on US
vessels as a means of supporting the US maritime
industry.
“We will use all our resources,” Velazquez said. “We
need to make Puerto Rico whole again. These are American
citizens.”
Rossello 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.
Rossello and other officials praised the federal
government for planning its response before the storm
hit, a contrast with what Puerto Rico has long seen as
the neglect of 3.4 million Americans in a territory
without a vote in Congress or the electoral college.
“This is the first time we get this type of federal
coordination,” said Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s
non-voting representative in Washington.
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.
At least 31 lives in all have been lost around the
Caribbean due to Maria, including at least 15 on
hard-hit Dominica. Haiti reported three deaths;
Guadeloupe two; and the Dominican Republic one.
Across Puerto Rico, more than 15,000 people were in
shelters, including some 2,000 rescued from the north
coastal town of Toa Baja. Many Puerto Ricans planned to
head to the mainland to temporarily escape the
devastation.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/24/puerto-rico-aid-hurricane-maria-cracked-dam