Puerto Rico

More than 2000 people were in shelters, the governor said, and the rain will continue for another day, weakening infrastructure damaged five years ago by ...

In 2017, the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center began issuing storm surge watches and warnings along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast, and, in 2019, to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Some areas along the coast experienced a storm surge as high as 14 feet, [according to a report from the center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092021_Ida.pdf). And, before that, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 produced a [storm surge 25 to 28 feet](https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/us/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-surge-wall-of-water-set-a-record.html?) above normal tide levels and helped cause about $75 billion in damage in the New Orleans area and along the Mississippi coast. A change in a storm’s track, even of just 20 miles, can make a difference, he said, and every mile of coastline along the Eastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico is susceptible to storm surge from tropical cyclones. [according to the National Hurricane Center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/). The storm could bring four to six inches of rain to the British and U.S. There is a “migration of tropical cyclones out of the tropics and toward subtropics and middle latitudes,” Dr. The storm made landfall in the Dominican Republic, meaning the eye of the storm crossed the shoreline, at 3:30 a.m. But storm activity picked up in early September, with [Danielle](https://www.nytimes.com/article/tropical-storm-danielle-hurricane.html) and [Earl](https://www.nytimes.com/article/tropical-storm-earl-hurricane.html), which both eventually became hurricanes, forming within a day of each other. Pierluisi said in Spanish, adding that the storm has been one of the most significant to hit since Hurricane Maria devastated it in 2017. Pedro Pierluisi, the governor of Puerto Rico, said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon that the authorities were assessing damage and working to stave off a growing disaster. Most of the island was without electricity, and more than 2,000 people were in shelters, the governor said.

Hundreds of people are trapped in emergency shelters across the Caribbean island, with major roads underwater and reports of numerous collapsed bridges. Crops ...

The eye of Fiona made landfall in the Dominican Republic near Boca Yuma about 3.30am local time, according to forecasters. Puerto Rico is a tropical archipelago and US territory located a thousand miles or so south-east of Miami. Hundreds of people are trapped in emergency shelters across the Caribbean island, with major roads underwater and reports of numerous collapsed bridges. They are rebuilding exactly the same system that gets knocked down again and again. [ almost 800,000 homes and businesses](https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/notas/mas-de-778000-clientes-estan-sin-servicio-de-agua-potable-tras-el-paso-del-huracan-fiona/) have no water after Hurricane Fiona caused a total blackout on Sunday and swollen rivers contaminated the filtration system. [Lights went out across Puerto Rico just after 1pm](https://poweroutage.us/area/state/puerto%20rico) on Sunday, leaving only those households and businesses with rooftop solar or functioning generators with power.

No deaths have been reported, but authorities in the US territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash ...

Puerto Rico’s health centres were running on generators — and some of those had failed. That hurricane caused nearly 3,000 deaths and destroyed the power grid. It was moving to the north-west at eight mph (13 kph). It could near Bermuda as a major hurricane late Thursday or on Friday. [#Fiona]Advisory 20A: Hurricane Conditions Continuing Over Portions of the Dominican Republic. Heavy Rainfall and Catastrophic Flooding Continues Across Much Of Puerto Rico.

Hurricane Fiona roared over the Dominican Republic on Monday, a day after knocking out power to all of Puerto Rico and causing damage the governor described ...

The storm was still expected to unleash torrential rain across the U.S. Authorities reported no deaths directly from Fiona, but Puerto Rico officials said it was too early to know the full scope of damage. The storm also took out a bridge and flooded an airport runway.

Hundreds trapped in emergency shelters as Hurricane Fiona moves on to Dominican Republic.

The Biden administration has declared a federal emergency for Puerto Rico, mobilising aid and resources to the island which is officially bankrupt. Puerto Rico is a tropical archipelago and US territory located a thousand miles or so south-east of Miami. They are rebuilding exactly the same system that gets knocked down again and again. Hundreds of people are trapped in emergency shelters across the Caribbean island, with major roads underwater and reports of numerous collapsed bridges. “Our communities are covered in water and mud. Lights went out across Puerto Rico just after 1pm on Sunday, leaving only those households and businesses with rooftop solar or functioning generators with power.

The storm moved west into the Dominican Republic, as conditions in Puerto Rico remained too dangerous for repair workers early Monday.

Hurricane Maria had a deep, lasting impact on Puerto Rico, with unreliable electricity remaining a mainstay of life on the island. That storm caused the deaths of The rain will be heavy enough to produce what the National Weather Service called “life-threatening and catastrophic flooding” along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico on Monday. Several large landslides were reported, and a bridge washed away in the central town of Utuado. But “we are still expecting flash flooding at least for the rest of the day today, and that might be extended for the next day,” she said. But it was immediately clear that the island would have a difficult recovery process, with as much as 30 inches of rain in some places.

Fiona is pounding the Dominican Republic after thrashing Puerto Rico with torrential rain, catastrophic flooding and an islandwide power outage.

And all of the planning efforts we undertake during those blue skies days can be brought to bear when the rain falls." Eastern parts of the Dominican Republic could also see flooding, mudslides or landslides, the hurricane center said. The complex is the island's most important and stretches across 227 acres, according to the Health Administration of Puerto Rico. , carrying its structure downstream, one video of the dangerous flooding shows. And southern Puerto Rico can expect another 4 to 6 inches of rain or more early this week -- meaning Fiona will leave the island deluged with 12 to 30 inches of rain, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. This time, she said, FEMA plans to implement lessons learned from the 2017 crisis. "Our patients are safe and receiving the medical care they need." "We were much more prepared. Samuel Rivera and his mother Lourdes Rodriguez lived without power for about a year after Maria, Rivera told CNN's Layla Santiago. By late Monday morning, a bit of good news from island's capital: The power system came back up for hospitals in San Juan's medical complex, Puerto Rico Health Secretary Dr. Fiona could dump 12 inches of rain in eastern and northern parts of the country. . That would make Fiona the first major hurricane of the year in the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center said.

The island's electrical grid has been crippled by a series of storms and other woes, including mismanagement.

Demonstrators marched in San Juan, the capital, in one of many [protests](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/puerto-rico-electricity-protest.html) over the years triggered by the island’s electricity problems. [to live through rolling blackouts](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/puerto-rico-electricity-protest.html). [woes and $9 billion in debt](https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-economy-puerto-rico-pedro-pierluisi-c7472f4e779e797b502c95cadb59d124). Puerto Rico is paying the new company a fixed annual fee of $115 million. [Wayne Stensby, LUMA’s chief executive](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/us/puerto-rico-luma-stensby-arrest.html), [blamed the system’s problems](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/puerto-rico-electricity-protest.html) on a backlog of outages, a cyberattack and resistance from some PREPA employees. It hired Whitefish Energy Holdings, a small and inexperienced contractor linked to the Trump administration’s interior secretary at the time, and FEMA called in the Army Corps of Engineers, which had never rebuilt a major grid after a storm, [LUMA Energy](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/us/puerto-rico-luma-stensby-arrest.html), a private Canadian-American consortium, to operate the transmission and distribution system and handle reconstruction. [earmarked about $10 billion](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/puerto-rico-electricity-protest.html) to rebuild the system. On Monday, like a recurring nightmare, [Hurricane Irma ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/us/irma-puerto-rico-infrastructure.html)and [Hurricane Maria](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/puerto-rico-electricity-protest.html) struck Puerto Rico within weeks of each other, laying bare the tenuous state of the island’s infrastructure. [as a New York Times investigation in 2018 showed](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/06/us/puerto-rico-power-grid-hurricanes.html). [80 percent of the system](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/06/us/puerto-rico-power-grid-hurricanes.html), an intricate network of 2,400 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, some of it threaded along mountains, and 30,000 miles of lower-voltage distribution lines that go to neighborhoods and homes.

No deaths have been reported, but authorities in the US territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash ...

Puerto Rico’s health centres were running on generators — and some of those had failed. That hurricane caused nearly 3,000 deaths and destroyed the power grid. It was moving to the north-west at eight mph (13 kph). It could near Bermuda as a major hurricane late Thursday or on Friday. [#Fiona]Advisory 20A: Hurricane Conditions Continuing Over Portions of the Dominican Republic. Heavy Rainfall and Catastrophic Flooding Continues Across Much Of Puerto Rico.

Nearly 800 people were evacuated to safer locations, and more than 500 were in shelters, officials said.

Nearly 800 people were evacuated to safer locations, and more than 500 were in shelters, officials said. The storm also took out a bridge and flooded two airports. The system hit Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. Up to 22in of rain fell in some areas of Puerto Rico and forecasters said another 4in to 8in could fall as the storm moves away, with more possible in places. The National Weather Service office in Puerto Rico said flash flooding was occurring in south-central parts of the island and advised residents to move to higher ground immediately. The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico had yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017.

When Hurricane Fiona lashed Puerto Rico Sunday, it left at least one dead, washed out bridges and roads, ripped off roofs and sent more than 2100 people ...

It also laid bare, once again, just how sickly the island’s power infrastructure is. Luma Energy said that it restored power to more than 100,000 of its 1.5 million clients. Even before the storm touched land on the southwestern tip of the island, it had provoked a general blackout that affected the entire US territory of 3.1 million people.

Fiona has had such a catastrophic impact partly for reasons that long preceded the storm's landfall. Here are three major ones. The Trump administration ...

[stronger on average globally](https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/101/3/bams-d-18-0194.1.xml). [extensive relief work](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/20/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-housing.html) in the storm’s immediate aftermath, federal funds for longer-term recovery on the island became snarled in [political squabbling in Congress](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/politics/puerto-rico-aid.html). FEMA today has twice the number of generators on Puerto Rico, nine times the water, 10 times the meals and eight times the number of tarps compared with 2017, Ms. [Hurricane Fiona](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/19/us/hurricane-fiona-puerto-rico) dropped 30 inches of rain on the mountainous island, causing widespread damage to homes and infrastructure. Higher temperatures are also causing more water to evaporate from the oceans, and warmer air holds more moisture. There might be [slightly fewer](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GL086930), scientific models predict. President Biden [authorized](https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20220918/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-approves-emergency-declaration-puerto-rico) the Federal Emergency Management Agency to mobilize and coordinate aid. [nearly 3,000 people](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-deaths.html?module=inline). Currie said. A large majority of this spending — 81 percent — has gone to emergency relief, such as debris removal, Mr. The Trump administration also [placed restrictions](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/climate/puerto-rico-maria-federal-aid.html) on portions of the island’s aid out of concerns that the money would be mismanaged or squandered. It took [11 months](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/puerto-rico-electricity-power.html) to restore power to all customers in the territory — a stretch, combined with that in the U.S.

Five years after Maria struck Puerto Rico, even a Category 1 hurricane like Fiona can be devastating.

It would also help to make the island’s power grid “smarter” and capable of automatically sensing where, exactly, a break has occurred. “We need policies in place to ensure transparency and accountability,” Tormos-Aponte said. And at the end of the day, the grid couldn’t withstand a relatively weak hurricane even five years after Maria. On the bright side, there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit. “This is a good example of how you don’t always need a Hurricane Maria in order to cause major impacts.” “It is the recipe for disaster,” she said. The bridge was built after Hurricane Maria as a temporary structure, Pérez-Lugo said, and it was never updated and made permanent. The most intense region of rainfall was in the eastern part of the storm, which is the exact part that passed over the island, said Paul Miller, an assistant professor of oceanography and coastal sciences at Louisiana State University. “It’s structured in a vulnerable way,” she added. [Category 1 storm](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php) has maximum sustained winds of between 74 and 95 miles per hour, the lowest of any hurricane). “In Puerto Rico, everything was on its knees.” [life-threatening and catastrophic flooding](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT2+shtml/191459.shtml?)” after [Hurricane Fiona](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?start#contents) made landfall on the island this weekend as a Category 1 storm.

Hurricane Fiona has roared over the Dominican Republic a day after knocking out power to all of Puerto Rico and causing damage the governor described as ...

Nearly 800 people were evacuated to safer locations, and more than 500 were in shelters, officials said. The storm also took out a bridge and flooded two airports. The system hit Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. Up to 22in of rain fell in some areas of Puerto Rico and forecasters said another 4in to 8in could fall as the storm moves away, with more possible in places. The National Weather Service office in Puerto Rico said flash flooding was occurring in south-central parts of the island and advised residents to move to higher ground immediately. The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico had yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017.

The hurricane winds that knocked out power to the entire island of Puerto Rico over the weekend encountered an electrical grid that experts liken to a house ...

“But we are committed to transforming the electric system in Puerto Rico. The public utility, which still controls power generation in Puerto Rico, is in bankruptcy and helped drive the U.S. The towers stand atop steep hillsides, looking over ravines, and continue to the populous north to where most of the energy is consumed. After Fiona, winds knocked out power to at least four of the island’s major transmission lines. One of the major vulnerabilities of Puerto Rico’s electrical system is the cross-country transmission system. Luma spokesman Hugo Sorrentini said the company’s crews have been hampered by extensive flooding across the island but that some 1,500 utility workers are “ready to respond” to the outages. Puerto Rico’s fragile power grid has been at the center of recriminations from protesters, customers and utility union members who have called on Pierluisi to cancel the government’s contract with Luma Energy. The U.S.-Canadian power consortium has struggled more than a year after taking over operations of Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution lines with public perception, frequent brownouts and at least one total blackout. Luma Energy officials on Monday said power has been restored to just more than 100,000 people by Monday afternoon, including in the San Juan metropolitan area, at the city’s main hospital campus and the island’s largest airport, but the company had yet to offer a detailed assessment of the damage. The storm’s outer bands continue to drop copious amounts of rain and threaten to swell waterways already breaching their banks and causing landslides in the mountains. And a major plan to modernize the island’s electricity system, funded with billions from the U.S. Luma Energy, the private consortium that was hired in 2020 to handle transmission, has failed to satisfy critics, as power outages have increased in duration this year even apart from destructive storms, according to a report [last month ](https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-pedro-pierluisi-quanta-services-inc-climate-and-environment-5049018d7ae13c5fe09a6b054c2d177d)by the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau.

Hurricane Fiona knocked out electrical power to the entire commonwealth of Puerto Rico starting on Sunday, reviving memories of Hurricane Maria, ...

In early 2020, two of the island's largest power plants were damaged in a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. Puerto Rico has to import all its oil, coal and natural gas as it does not produce any fossil fuels. The island also endured a power outage in April that knocked out electricity for a third of homes and businesses. Hurricane Maria decimated the island's electrical system when it struck in late September 2017, mainly by knocking out transmission lines. PREPA had been long criticized for inadequate investment in its power system and failure to establish back-ups to maintain power during disasters. In June 2021, Puerto Rico privatized the grid by engaging LUMA Energy to operate the system, even though PREPA still owned the infrastructure.

After 'catastrophic' flooding in Puerto Rico, the storm was lingering over the Dominican and expected to reach Turks and Caicos.

[Pet-friendly additions](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/11/09/airbnb-pet-allowed/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_30) [Mexico shooting](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/01/27/playa-del-carmen-manager-shot/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_26) [Australia reopens](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/02/22/australia-reopen-borders/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_24) Disney](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/04/22/florida-disney-reedy-creek-desantis/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_18) [Disney prices](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/03/07/disney-world-disneyland-ticket-prices-fees/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_23) [Disney boycott](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/04/18/disney-boycott-theme-parks-lgbtq/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_19) [Texas, Florida travel ban](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/04/08/la-ban-travel-florida-texas/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_20) [CDC travel advisories](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/04/18/cdc-travel-warning-high-risk/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_5) [Wheelchair damage](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/06/07/wheelchair-scooter-damage-airplane-flights/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_17) [Disruptive behavior](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/06/11/flights-mask-incidents-faa-fines/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_16) [Entry test rules](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/04/12/us-travel-testing-requirement-covid/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_3) [Mask advice](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/04/19/mask-plane-covid-health-experts/?itid=lb_more-travel-news_1)

Puerto Rico residents' anger and frustration at the state of their crumbling electric grid was building long before Hurricane Fiona triggered an island-wide ...

That hearing focused on the rebuilding of the power grid and other essential infrastructure in the five years since Maria hit both Puerto Rico and the U.S. “The problem LUMA is struggling with is that the outages are longer,” he said. He added that the island has seen improvements in service and safety under LUMA. She called the road to recovery “a journey.” The island’s non-voting Republican congressional representative, Jenniffer González-Colón, questioned officials from FEMA and LUMA Energy during a hearing Thursday about how much of the billions the federal agency has obligated for Puerto Rico’s recovery has actually gone out the door. Energy experts and activists also fault Puerto Rico’s government and the territory’s Financial Oversight and Management Board, which Congress created to oversee and approve Puerto Rico’s budget. Maria, the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in nearly a century, arrived just two weeks after Hurricane Irma, causing widespread power outages and water service interruptions. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency has set aside billions of dollars for reconstruction of Puerto Rico’s power grid following those two storms, that money has trickled out slowly. LUMA, a joint venture of Canadian utility holding company ATCO and the U.S. Guaynabo, a suburb of San Juan in the northern part of the island, did not have electricity or water service. “It’s kind of a reckoning and it was a bad one.” A protest against LUMA in August led to a clash where police pepper-sprayed demonstrators and journalists near the governor’s residence.

Bad Bunny's new video shows the destruction of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and proves the island never got the aid it needed after Maria five years ago.

Those are the stories that need to find more traction outside of Puerto Rico in order for it to be transformed. [earmarked from the federal government](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-106211) in response to the 2017 hurricane season still go unspent. [an extension of what Bad Bunny has said and done in the past](https://www.vox.com/culture/23292674/bad-bunny-el-choli-concert-puerto-rico-politics-luma-gentrification), delivering the necessary context for anyone who truly wants to be an ally for Puerto Rico. If nothing else, Bad Bunny’s tribute highlights that it will take Puerto Ricans to make sure this doesn’t happen, just like it took Puerto Ricans over the years to ensure that they are not ignored. Hopefully, by shining a light on these issues as well as the unelected fiscal control board [that financially rules the colony](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/puerto-rico-s-new-bankruptcy-plan-does-nothing-most-island-n1287883), the documentary will lead to real interest in searching for real solutions. Just like when Maria hit the island in 2017, the outpouring of concern about helping Puerto Ricans post-Fiona is real, even if it tends to come from a place of seeing Puerto Ricans as poor foreign victims with no agency or voice. Sadly, this is what Puerto Rico has become: a place with little to no real resilient infrastructure, and a local government that cannot guarantee basic needs like electricity, water or food. With more than 5 million YouTube views and counting, the music video morphs into an in-depth documentary report from freelance journalist [Bianca Graulau](https://www.latinousa.org/2022/09/16/biancagraulau/), who has gained a following on social media for her explainers about Puerto Rico’s colonial dilemma. Ironically, during a Saturday press conference about Fiona, [the power went out during Pierluisi’s remarks](https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-power-outage-during-tropical-storm-fiona-press-conference-in-puerto-rico-148678725941). The message is Five years have passed since Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico in the early morning hours of Sept. [told local journalist ](https://twitter.com/Vaquero2XL/status/1571884553278464010)Carlos Edill Berríos Polanco via Twitter on Monday, “We’re tired.

Hurricane Fiona unleashed more rain on Puerto Rico on Monday, a day after the storm knocked out power and water to most of the island.

It was on a path to pass close to the Turks and Caicos islands on Tuesday and was not expected to threaten the U.S. The storm displaced more than 12,400 people and cut off at least two communities. Forecasts called for Fiona to grow into a major hurricane of Category 3 or greater. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps. "Storms are unpredictable," Premier Washington Misick said in a statement from London, where he was attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Fiona was centered 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Grand Turk Island late Monday.

More than 837000 customers have been left with no access to clean running water since Hurricane Fiona struck the island on Sunday.

Pagán Crespo explained that in addition to the power outages, water supplies have been severely impacted by the flooding and surges of Puerto Rico's rivers. The Associated Press reported that a month after the storm, 20 of the island's 51 sewage treatment plants remained out of service. Meanwhile, Environmental Protection Agency officials could not inspect some of the island's highly toxic Superfund sites that were knocked out of service. [1.2 million clients](https://www.acueductospr.com/misi%C3%B3n-visi%C3%B3n-y-objetivos), which means only 34% of households currently have clean running water. "We have 112 filtration plants, and most of them are supplied from rivers. That means no clean water for drinking, bathing or flushing toilets.

Hurricane Fiona has passed through Puerto Rico, causing mass floods and mudslides and leaving most of the island without electricity.

FERNANDO VERA: It was literally, like, as if the mountain exploded, and all the mountain just laid over the top of the road. As he thinks about what recovery could look like this time, he is also haunted by the impact of Hurricane Maria in 2017. We are going to focus on Puerto Rico, where very few parts of the island have been spared, starting on the north side of the island.

Hurricane Fiona, a category 1 storm, made landfall in Puerto Rico over the weekend, causing catastrophic flooding and leaving much of the island without ...

Our work centers on advancing a community-driven solar and storage project on the island of Culebra and supporting a range of partners who are driving systemic change to the energy system across Puerto Rico. Environmental Defense Fund is committed to continue working with communities to create these opportunities and help Puerto Rico thrive and prosper long into the future.” Environmental Defense Fund seeks to identify effective and equitable energy solutions that can bring clean, community-centered electricity to Puerto Rico and can meet the daily needs of its residents, while making the island more resilient to climate change.

The Puerto Rican mutual-aid group is asking for donations of emergency essentials for residents, including first-aid kits, water filters, solar lamps and water ...

The organization is activating its disaster aid protocol, asking for [already on the ground in Puerto Rico](https://www.hispanicfederation.org/fionahelp/) providing emergency relief services and essential supplies to communities across the island. [women-led nonprofit](https://www.tallersalud.com/) is coordinating hurricane relief efforts across the island, accepting donations of items such as nonperishable food, adult and baby diapers, gallons of water, toiletries and more. [Hurricane Fiona Relief Fund](https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/hurricane-fiona-relief-fund/)" — aiming to raise $1 million to help residents on the island and other communities across the Caribbean. [declared an emergency](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/09/18/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-approves-puerto-rico-emergency-declaration/) in Puerto Rico, calling on both the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts for residents. [made landfall in southwestern Puerto Rico](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123690268/puerto-rico-hurricane-fiona) on Sunday, residents are recovering from the heavy rain and lashing winds that caused an island-wide blackout over the weekend.

The U.S. response to Maria was widely seen as wholly inadequate. As the island marks the anniversary of the Category 4 storm, the destruction caused by ...

[tangled with the territory's officials](https://time.com/4963903/donald-trump-puerto-rican-leaders-want-everything-to-be-done-for-them/), [denied that thousands died](https://www.npr.org/2018/09/13/647377915/trump-denies-death-toll-in-puerto-rico-falsely-claims-done-by-the-democrats) from the storm and insisted the federal response was ["incredibly successful." It's admittedly a long way off, but the island has undertaken a plan to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2050. "Look at Hurricane Sandy," Ferreira says. "Almost every week, [we'd hear] X number of millions of dollars for this, X number of millions of dollars for that. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell also traveled to the island to meet with officials, she says. While some see progress in the response to Fiona, others say there is still a long way to go. "Then you had the permanent work. "And we also have triple the generation support, the temporary power support." And there had been a lot done to harden transmission lines, but it wasn't complete." Even so, with Fiona, "you've already seen bridges are being washed away that had been rebuilt after Maria," he says. The island's governor, Pedro Pierluisi, has described the outages, massive flooding and landslides there as "catastrophic." territory is again facing the aftermath of a

Authorities reported two deaths from the hurricane — a Puerto Rican man who was swept away by a flooded river and a person in the Dominican Republic who was hit ...

It was on a path to pass close to the Turks and Caicos islands on Tuesday and was not expected to threaten the U.S. Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, authorities closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home from work. Forecasts called for the storm to grow into a major hurricane of Category 3 or greater. territory that is home to 3.2 million people. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps. Authorities reported two deaths from the hurricane — a Puerto Rican man who was swept away by a flooded river and a person in the Dominican Republic who was hit by a falling tree.

The Category 1 hurricane dumped massive rainfall and wiped out the island's power grid. That's raising questions about the influence of climate change on.

After Maria, the island’s utility regulator, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, approved a plan that would require 40 percent of power to come from renewables by 2025. In April, a circuit breaker near a power plant caught fire, causing a cascade of generators to shut off, which led to an islandwide power outage that was not fully restored for several days. And so money is not being spent with any degree of speed, because they are not following their plan.” “People in Puerto Rico are always expecting those interruptions.” Maria dumped 41 inches in a day — one of the highest precipitation levels on record for Puerto Rico. Preliminary reports suggest that some parts of Puerto Rico had received nearly 28 inches of rain since Fiona made landfall Sunday afternoon as a Category 1 storm. “There are very good plans to use the money well. But, he said, “that is not what is going on. 16). “Even a small disruption in the transmission lines can cause a loss of power to a large segment of the population,” Josué Colón-Ortiz, executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), said Thursday at a House hearing ( [2019 analysis](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GL082077) of hurricane rains in Puerto Rico found that only a handful of storms had produced more than 20 inches of maximum rainfall since the 1950s and that climate change has made a massive rainfall event similar to Maria nearly five times more likely. The power loss forced the closure of public schools through at least Tuesday and caused the loss of cellphone service in parts of Puerto Rico and bewilderment at Fiona’s destructive capacity.

An estimated 1.3 million homes and businesses remain without power in Puerto Rico Tuesday morning after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the island on Sunday, ...

PREPA, which operated the island's power grid when Hurricane Maria hit, still owns much of Puerto Rico's power infrastructure. LUMA said on Monday that it restored power to more than 100,000 customers. The storm was packing winds of up to 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour) and continued to cause heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding in the Dominican Republic. The center of Fiona was near Grand Turk Island, according to the U.S. The storm has killed at least three people. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

And the governor describes catastrophic damage in some communities from wind and flooding. The eye of the storm made its way offshore, but the rain will ...

FLORIDO: He said that this was not going to be like Hurricane Maria, which - you know, it took the government a year in some cases, in some communities, to restore power. Fiona was a much smaller storm and much less powerful than Maria was, and still, it caused a total blackout, and the power is still off in the vast majority of the island. FLORIDO: Absolutely, and that is a big question that is emerging here in Puerto Rico and that, I think, is going to be really scrutinized as we start to get an even clearer sense of the damage from Fiona this weekend. And that bridge is reportedly only a couple of years old, built as part of the reconstruction from Hurricane Maria, which hit five years ago. But it's clear from government reports and also from videos and photos that people have been posting online that in a lot of communities across the island, especially in rural areas, there has been massive flooding that has destroyed homes and other infrastructure. FLORIDO: Well, the extent of the damage is still not clear, in part because, like you said, this storm is still dumping rain on the island, meaning that a real assessment of the destruction hasn't really started.

Fiona is likely to complicate the already slow pace of recovery from the catastrophic 2017 storm.

The current one has already rusted from exposure to the endless rain and humidity of the tropics. Across Puerto Rico, nearly 3,000 people died during the storm and in its aftermath during the power outage — one of the longest in U.S. The day the Río Grande de Arecibo toppled the cement bridge connecting Río Abajo to the rest of Puerto Rico, the community became known as “el campamento de los olvidados.” In the days after that storm, she and her four sons packed bottles of water, solar-powered lights and animal feed into a wooden cart fashioned with two-by-fours nailed together. It’s hard to say how many died in his town, but the mayor can name a handful of neighbors. Bridges collapsed, and the roadwork that had been completed dissolved under the weight and speed of floodwaters. Yabucoa is one of Puerto Rico’s lowest-income communities, and after the hurricane, 6,000 people left to rebuild lives in the States. He equated it to the magical realism of a Gabriel García Márquez novel. [only a fraction of the money](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/22/puerto-rico-hurricane-trump-hud/?itid=lk_inline_manual_38) has been disbursed by the federal agency. Change here has been happening at a snail’s pace — emblematic of the delays and corruption that have marred the post-Maria years. Blackouts remain a staple of life in the U.S. There was one kind of life before the tempest.

Hurricane Fiona is moving northward Tuesday after making landfall in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Follow our live updates and hurricane path ...

more frequently in recent years](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/09/29/record-us-hurricane-landfalls-climate/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_7). And last summer alone, [nearly 1 in 3 Americans experienced a weather disaster](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/09/04/climate-disaster-hurricane-ida/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_8). [seven safety tips to make sure you’re ready](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/05/03/hurricane-safety-prepare-noaa/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_4). Read more about [how climate change is fueling severe weather events](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/10/22/climate-curious-disasters-climate-change/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_9) [an above-average season of hurricane activity](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/05/24/noaa-atlantic-hurricane-outlook-2022/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_1). Here’s some other guidance about [keeping your phone charged and useful in dangerous weather](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/31/tips-phone-disasters/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_5), and [what to know about flood insurance](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/06/22/how-decide-if-flood-insurance-is-necessary-your-home/?itid=lb_more-on-hurricanes_6).

Much of island is in the dark and underwater while the Fema boss will survey the damage today.

Much of Puerto Rico is in the dark and underwater following a lashing by Hurricane Fiona as it tore through the Caribbean. And that’s to say nothing of the GOP’s willingness to find compromises with the White House on legislation, particularly if Republicans take control of the House, which they are seen as having a good chance of doing. And then he said under his breath, ‘The things we do for the orange Jesus’. Here’s what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic congresswoman who’s been an advocate for the island, told Latino Rebels: If the chamber came into the GOP’s hands, all bets would be off on Biden being able to get any appointees confirmed, particularly if another vacancy opens up on the high court. The report contained few details on why the Kentucky senator felt that way, but if he’s right, Joe Biden will face an even more complicated two years than expected.

The island's electric grid has barely recovered from the catastrophic damage it suffered in 2017, when Hurricane Maria hit. Puerto Rico's reliance on imported ...

[blaming](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/climate/puerto-rico-hurricane-fiona.html) staffing shortfalls in government offices and among construction contractors, as well as supply chain disruptions linked to the pandemic. [late to set a territory-wide renewable energy target](https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/how-puerto-rico-could-tap-rooftop-solar-to-avoid-blackouts), deciding in 2019 to generate 40% of its power from renewables (including wind and hydro) by 2025, up from 5% today. As a result, Puerto Ricans have some of the [most expensive](https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=RQ) and least reliable electricity in the US. The first obstacle is cost: Rooftop systems on the island, which is on the outskirts of the global solar supply chain, can cost more than $20,000, close to the average annual household income there. “Everyone in Puerto Rico wants rooftop solar, because the benefits are so obvious,” she said. In Fiona’s immediate aftermath, she said, the only households to still have power are those with diesel generators or rooftop solar panels.

The military arrives, the National Guard mobilizes, but the Trump administration blocks access to more than $20 billion in hurricane-relief aid and recovery ...

These are the days of reckoning, when the reparations paid to the people help fund hospitals in Vieques and Culebra, help establish universal medical care, help create a reproductive-and-maternal-health program. But the future of a free Puerto Rico doesn’t need to be utopian, or easy, to be just. With independence, the citizens of Puerto Rico would have a government created by and for the benefit of the Puerto Rican people rather than for the benefit of outside interests. But to many people in Puerto Rico and among the diaspora, he was regarded as a political prisoner, the embodiment of resistance. In response to the Gag Law and the attempted suppression of pro-independence sentiment, the Nationalists planned a series of revolts. Diaz has argued that “the extension of American citizenship to Puerto Ricans works not so much to include Puerto Ricans into the nation, but rather to extend the borders of the United States.” The extension of statehood would have the same effect. As a state, Puerto Rico would finally have voting representation in Congress, and its citizens would gain the right to vote in presidential elections. But if the case of Hawaii is at all predictive, statehood would also ensure that even more Americans would move to Puerto Rico, displacing even more Puerto Ricans and putting even more non–Puerto Ricans into positions of power. Proponents of statehood argue that making Puerto Rico the 51st state would give it the tools and authority to sort out its own financial issues, and bring an increase in disability benefits, Social Security benefits, and Medicaid funding. Every day, it becomes more and more obvious that the current government structure—Puerto Rico as a de facto colony of the United States, despite the official language referring to it as a “commonwealth”—is a failure. In time, he transferred to a Catholic church in Yabucoa, on the southeastern coast, one of the towns hardest hit by the storm. They try to stock up, but by the time they arrive, the lines are long and most of the shops are running low.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with professor Yarimar Bonilla, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. about obstacles ahead for ...

BONILLA: I think all Puerto Ricans will say to contribute to community organizations that have already proven themselves in the wake of Maria. So we know that it wasn't Puerto Ricans who were gaming the systems, but it was Puerto Ricans who were being policed. BONILLA: I mean, part of it is that because of the shrinking of the Puerto Rican government under austerity, more and more burden is placed on individuals that they have to get groceries, get solar batteries, get all the provisions that they need, including drinking water. BONILLA: Well, part of it is that there was an emphasis by the federal government and the fiscal appointed - the federally appointed fiscal board in Puerto Rico, that the electric grid had to be privatized before it could be repaired or modernized. So hopefully folks in disaster areas don't have to go through complicated bureaucracy just to get the lifesaving supplies that they need and that the government is not able to provide them. So they have to front all this money that now they don't know if they're going to be supported in any way. BONILLA: Well, we see that we don't get the same amount of federal funds. And again, there was a lot of emphasis about fixing the power grid, and there's been a lot of criticism around that. BONILLA: That means that these storms are coming faster and faster, but it also has to do with the fact that emergency response hasn't adapted to climate change. And so some of the recovery in Puerto Rico has been extremely slow, part of it because of the bureaucracy of FEMA that takes a long time to release funds, that often does patchwork, temporary solutions, like this bridge that we all saw wash away like a twig because it couldn't even stand, you know, a Category 1 storm. Billions of dollars were allocated from Congress to rebuild and rebuild so that the island could withstand storms like this. And in some cases, there was more emphasis on relocating people outside of Puerto Rico rather than in helping them rebuild.

Days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a Category 1 hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico on Sunday, causing catastrophic flooding, landslides, ...

The [ organization](https://www.bsopr.com/) is collecting monetary donations as well. [Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico](https://www.comedoressocialespr.org/aportar) is a community kitchen with programs fighting food insecurity on the island. So far, Fiona has caused at least one reported [death](https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/uncategorized/one-death-reported-in-guadeloupe-following-passage-of-tropical-storm-fiona/) in Guadeloupe, [two deaths](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/weather/hurricane-tropical-storm-fiona-monday/index.html) in Puerto Rico, and one in the Dominican Republic, where it [made landfall](https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/hurricane-fiona-news-09-19-22/index.html) Monday morning; the true toll may take longer to confirm. [blackouts](https://poweroutage.us/area/state/puerto%20rico), the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/us/puerto-rico-power-hurricane-fiona.html) reports. Puerto Rico’s government has set up a [website](https://www.preps.pr.gov/) providing residents with updates and resources. The group is also accepting cash donations via PayPal and some disaster-relief essentials including water filters and solar lanterns. In response to Fiona’s compounding damage, President Joe Biden has approved Puerto Rico’s [emergency declaration](https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20220918/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-approves-emergency-declaration-puerto-rico-0) to channel federal resources into local disaster-relief efforts. Per [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/floods-storms-hurricanes-puerto-rico-tropical-01028dac6655ddb5b321f345cf9e9358), the rising waters have submerged cars, the first floors of houses, and an airport runway, while a recently-constructed bridge in the town of Utuado was washed away, and asphalt has been ripped from roads. [Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/us/puerto-rico-power-hurricane-fiona.html), conditions remain too dangerous for officials to fully evaluate the scope of Fiona’s damage. The Dominican Republic has declared a state of emergency in eight provinces with almost 800 [residents evacuated](https://apnews.com/article/floods-storms-hurricanes-weather-dominican-republic-b0932ff0e3c40627e81ffad4d4d5d0dd) to safer locations and more than 700 others relocated to shelters. [Hurricane Maria,](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123690268/puerto-rico-hurricane-fiona) the Category 4 hurricane that struck the island in 2017, wrecking its power-grid system and killing almost 3,000 people. [Luma](https://lumapr.com/?lang=en), a private consortium that tracks the island’s electrical-transmission-and-distribution system, says it has delivered power back to approximately 100,000 residents overnight but warns that total restoration could take days because of the “incredibly challenging” conditions repair workers are operating under.