The current governor of Puerto Rico
has nothing but praise for Trump's actions to bring aid to the island.
Political corruption and negligence for decades of Puerto Rico's electrical grid and other infrastructure is what led to the complete collapse of Puerto Rico's electrical and water systems. And similar to New Orleans mayor after hurricane Katrina, he tried to cover up his own incompetence and negligence by blaming FEMA and President W. Bush. When FEMA and other federal aid workers come in, they need some kind of infrastructure to take over when they come in to help. Since there was an abandonment of responsibility in New Orleans, there was nothing left to take over.
Similarly in Puerto Rico, there were supplies set up to bring in to Puerto Rico as soon as hurricane Maria ended. But the supplies just sat there on the docks, because local officials didn't provide the trucks to transport and distribute them throughout the island. The San Juan mayor covered her ass by blaming Trump.
Here in Florida, I was without power and enduring the heat for 4 days. So I have some idea what Puerto Ricans are enduring. They've been without power for almost exactly a month now, with no end in sight. They have to completely rebuild Puerto Rico's electrical grid, and possibly the water system as well. Currently almost 80% of the island still has no electricity.
Three weeks ago, a Puerto Rican co-worker of mine suddenly exploded into tears on the job. Her entire family is in Puerto Rico, and she finally snapped under the pressure of not knowing what happened to her family, having no way to contact them to know if her family is all right. Even air flights to Puerto Rico were suspended.
The girl who cuts my hair is from Puerto Rico, and there is a huge exodus out of Puerto Rico to the U.S., particularly young people, that may or may not return to the island after power is restored. I suspect when they have jobs and new lives in the U.S., it will be difficult to leave that and go back. She also said that while there are generators powering gas stations and supermarkets, only the wealthy there have air conditioning, and average people have no relief from the heat. Crime has also skyrocketed, since many cannot work and are desperate for the basics of sustenance. I know where I am, even after power was restored and I was technically "back to normal" at work, for about 3 weeks we had a fraction of our normal business. How much worse, when power is not restored?
And even worse in places like the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and the Florida keys, where up to 90% of the buildings are damaged or destroyed. Many of these places will take 7 or 10 years to get back to something resembling normal again. Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which only existed for a span of 12 days or so, will leave an impact for years on millions of lives. Even where I live, where (thank God) the damage was fairly minor, there are still huge piles of debris waiting to be taken away by sanitation. There's just too much for sanitation to do in any short amount of time. After hurricane Wilma (Oct 2005) the debris sat piled up for 6 months. I fully expect a similar timeframe this time. It's hard to imagine the lasting effects unless you see it every day. I'd suspect there will be a lot of beachfront property for sale in the near future!
