Hundreds of responders joined recovery efforts after Biden declared an emergency, allowing FEMA to coordinate disaster relief for the island.įor most of the five years since Maria, the debt-laden government and power utility were mired in bankruptcy, with Puerto Rico's finances managed by a federally appointed oversight board. Thousands of Puerto Ricans still live under makeshift tarpaulin roofs in the wake of Maria, a category 5 storm in 2017 that killed more than 3,000 people, left 1.5 million customers without electricity and knocked out 80% of power lines.Ī 70-year-old man in the northern town of Arecibo was Puerto Rico's first-known casualty, killed instantly by the explosion of his electric generator as he tried to start it, police said.Ī second man drowned, while police said an 88-year-old woman died of a heart attack. Puerto Rico's power grid remains fragile despite emergency repairs after Maria, says Center for a New Economy, a Puerto Rican think tank. The south and southeast regions were the hardest hit. Just 30% of drinking water customers have service.Ĭrews rescued about 400 people from flooding in the southern town of Salinas, where rain slowed to a drizzle. RAND HSRD HSOAC Supporting Puerto Rico's Disaster Recovery Planning >Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Impact and Aftermath Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Impact and Aftermath San Juan, Puerto Rico, viewed from Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery. That storm struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 behemoth, causing widespread damage and killing more than 3,000 people. territory with 85 mph winds earlier this month, knocking out power to the entire island and bringing back memories of 2017’s Hurricane Maria. Social media images showed submerged cars, people wading in waist-deep water and rescue boats floating down swamped streets. Miami Herald via Getty Images Fiona battered the U.S. Officials said it would take days to restore power to all the island's 3.3 million people.ĭowned trees and mudslides blocked many roads. Nearly 90% of Puerto Rico remained without power on Monday, according to. "My worry is that if they need help, there's no way to communicate," Rivera said. Hurricane Fiona smashed through Puerto Rico on Monday with pounding rain and winds that triggered mudslides, 'catastrophic' flooding and a power outage that swept across the entire island. She fears for her parents' safety and the health of her 84-year-old father, who had just contracted COVID-19 and was running a fever. Jeannette Rivera, 54, a public relations worker in Orlando, Florida, said she had not spoken with her family since a spotty phone call early Sunday. The hurricane also left about 196,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said.Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel there on Tuesday. The NHC downgraded Fiona to a tropical storm in Puerto Rico but warned that destructive rain and devastating flash floods could continue to hit the island.įiona will go down as a “catastrophic event due to the impacts of flooding” in Puerto Rico’s central, eastern and southern regions, Pierluisi tweeted, adding that 230-330mm (9-13 inches) of rain had fallen in just five hours. Puerto Ricos power grid was already struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which razed the system in 2017. In Puerto Rico, where residents were left without power as the hurricane neared, the island’s electricity company said on its website on Monday that it had “reenergized some circuits” but did not have numbers on how many people were receiving electricity. “Life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic,” the NHC said in a morning advisory.īefore Fiona’s arrival, Dominican President Luis Abinader suspended work and the island placed 13 of its 32 provinces, located to the north and east, on red alert. The hurricane carried maximum sustained winds of 144km per hour (90 miles per hour) as it hit the Dominican Republic on Monday morning, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Twitter. Hurricane Fiona's destruction of Puerto Rico, in maps and photos - The Washington Post Hurricane Fiona’s destruction of Puerto Rico, in maps and photos By Marisa Iati and Daniel. Landslides, blocked roads, fallen trees and power lines, as well as a collapsed bridge in the town of Utuado in the central mountainous region, were part of the destruction already caused by Fiona in Puerto Rico, Governor Pedro Pierluisi told an evening news conference. Hurricane Fiona has left a trail of destruction across Puerto Rico, knocking out the US island territory’s power while dumping torrential rain and wreaking catastrophic damage before making landfall in the Dominican Republic.
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