A powerful category 4 hurricane made landfall on Puerto Rico on Wednesday the 20th September. Hurricane Maria ripped off roofs, created terrifying flash floods, and left the entire island without power. Some communities have been completely destroyed. With winds of 155 mph it rendered the island unreachable after damaging radar and cell towers throughout the country. The extent of Maria’s destruction and the resulting death toll were left to speculation as communication had been cut completely.
One person has been confirmed dead on the island with numbers expecting to rise as rescue teams struggle to reach parts of the island that are currently unaccessible. Many buildings have been damaged, and the ‘dazed’ population remains stranded with no power, running water or means of communicating with the outside world.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told CNN that Puerto Rico’s energy grid was so badly damaged that restoring power to everyone could take months. The entire island population of 3.5 million people is affected. Posting encouragement on social media Rosselló said: “God is with us; we are stronger than any hurricane,” Mr Rossello said. “Together we will rise again.”
The US National Hurricane Center said “catastrophic” flooding was sweeping parts of the island. The disaster means that the US territory could receive federal assistance in its recovery, which may help to alleviate its public debt crisis which is currently at $73bn.
Mr Rossello has put a curfew in place restricting people from being outdoors from 18:00 til 6:00 local time on Wednesday evening until Saturday morning, firstly to protect people from accidents with so many electrical cables down and debris in the streets, and secondly to protect the thousands of properties across the island left empty as people sought refuge from the storm.
Maria is the most powerful storm to directly hit Puerto Rico in almost a century, and arrived less than two weeks after Hurricane Irma left significant damage, killing three people and leaving 70 percent of households without power. Efforts made to restore power after Irma struck would most certainly have been destroyed by Maria, and many are wondering how this country, already in huge debt, will find the money for the much needed repairs.
