By any measure, Maria is a monster. It struck Puerto Rico with sustained winds of 155 mph and some areas reported gusts above 200 mph. Damage isn’t extensive, it’s near universal. With electricity out across the entire island, and cell service limited to a few areas, it’s difficult to even determine just how badly Hurricane Maria has pummeled Puerto Rico. But … it’s bad.
"Definitely Puerto Rico — when we can get outside — we will find our island destroyed," Abner Gómez, director of Puerto Rico's emergency management agency, told reporters on Wednesday as the storm engulfed the entire island. "The information we have received is not encouraging. It's a system that has destroyed everything it has had in its path."
Flooding in San Juan is described as “intense” and on Thursday morning, rain is continuing to generate flash floods across the island. In addition to punishing winds and a strong surge along the coast, Maria dropped more than a foot of rain on Puerto Rico in just a few hours. The continuing flash floods represent a deadly threat, with messages like this going out, and many people not in a position to hear.
This is a FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY for Central Puerto Rico. This is a
PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!
Images coming from San Juan have been both terrifying and heartbreaking.
"The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there," Yulín said, adding: "We're looking at four to six months without electricity" in Puerto Rico, home to nearly 3.5 million people.
Some rescue and recovery forces from the continental United States had already deployed to Puerto Rico following the close passage of Hurricane Irma less than two weeks ago. But additional forces will definitely be needed.
Americans came together to support the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma—which was as it should be. But the victims of Hurricane Maria, in both Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, are in far more desperate straits. This is an American tragedy that demands a massive American embrace and support for the affected areas.
Puerto Rico, laboring under a massive financial crunch, had already expended millions to address Hurricane Irma, but now those repairs have been erased. The electrical grid and other services are expected to be down for months, as in some areas they have to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch.
Following Hurricane Irma, Pureto Rico took in thousands of refugees from other affected areas, including the US Virgin Islands.
Saddled with economic problems and its own damage from Hurricane Irma, Puerto Rico is taking thousands of refugees from the U.S. Virgin Islands whose homes were destroyed by the storm, with a cruise ship carrying up to 2,000 more due to set sail for the U.S. territory on Wednesday.
Some of those refugees of the earlier storm are still there, now riding out the damage with their hosts, without power, without communications, and in desperate need of additional aid.