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Puerto Rico asks the United States to declare the damage caused by Hurricane Fiona a “major disaster”

San Juan / Naranjito, September 20 (EFE).- The government of Puerto Rico on Tuesday asked the United States to declare the damage caused by Hurricane Fiona on the island a “major disaster”, where there are countless damages to houses and infrastructure and a large part of the population still has no electricity or water. Just five years after the devastating passage of Hurricane María on the island, which has still not recovered from the devastation suffered on September 20, 2017, the situation is once again dramatic for many Puerto Ricans. “I thought I was going to lose my house,” said José Morales, a resident of the town of Naranjito in the central mountains of Puerto Rico, in Efe, whose house was badly damaged by a landslide on the nearby hill. Morales also feared that a house further up the slope would fall on his own. “We had never seen heavy rain like this, it was terrible,” he recalls with visible anguish. To remedy this situation soon, Governor Pedro Pierluisi has indicated that he will submit “a request for a declaration of major disaster” to US President Joe Biden, who has promised to give priority to the case and who already approved on Sunday a federal declaration of emergency. ACTIVATE ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE Pierluisi explained during a press conference that this request gives rise to activating the economic assistance of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA, in English) of public assistance to offer emergency services and jobs for disaster victims. FEMA will also send hundreds of additional troops to Puerto Rico to respond to the emergency and its administrator, Deanne Criswell, will arrive on the island today to assess and determine the resources needed to support its recovery. “I will do what is necessary for us to recover as quickly as possible,” assured the governor, who announced that the estimated calculation of the damage could be delayed for a week. Deaths from the hurricane have also not been determined, although there are eight being assessed between direct, likely just a man being dragged by a river, and indirect, due to a lack medical treatment or due to the explosion of an electrical generator. Among the visible damage left by the Category 1 hurricane, which made landfall in the southwest of the island last Sunday, are impassable roads, flooded areas, destroyed homes and downed utility poles. On one of the highways that connects the municipality of Naranjito, several workers were working that day to remove the last trees and other debris in order to fully open access to the city. “Hurricane Fiona affected the municipality of Naranjito in multiple ways, such as landslides on national and municipal roads, which are the main access routes,” interim mayor Rafael Rodríguez told Efe. The mayor also indicated that the La Plata and Guadiana rivers have overflowed into the urban area, causing damage and flooding in the city, where several houses have been buried under mud and there is still no service. electricity and water. 80% of Puerto Rico is still in the dark on Tuesday, according to data from the company LUMA Energy, in charge of electricity transmission and distribution, which has so far restored service to 300,000 customers, out of a total of more than 1.4 millions. RESTORATION OF ELECTRICITY AND WATER, A PRIORITY Abner Gómez, director of public security at LUMA Energy, told a press conference that this number could increase in the coming hours when the company’s helicopters will carry out an inspection of the transmission and distribution lines of the Costa Sur plant. Pierluisi also assured that between this Tuesday and Wednesday “a large part of the population will have electricity”, except for the southern zone and the central mountainous zone, such as Naranjito, where, he added, it will take ” a bit more time”. For its part, the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) estimates that 55% of subscribers have no water supply, or a total of 693,963, which represents a slight improvement from the previous day. AAA executive director Doriel Pagán explained that the low number is due to the fact that more than 50% of the dams have been affected by the heavy rains and that many filtration plants are out of service due to obstruction. or turbidity in the raw water. . Despite the precariousness of the situation, the idea is to achieve a gradual return to normality and civil servants are called upon to resume their duties tomorrow. For the start of the school year, there is still no date, since the Ministry of Education is inspecting schools and there are still 1,223 people in 70 shelters, most of them established in educational centers. “It will be a gradual process. If the school has electricity and water service and is already in good condition, it will open in the next few days,” said Pierluisi. Flights at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport resumed at 100% that day, as the airfield expects to serve around 25,000 passengers, while all seaports are open for trade. It will take longer for citizens like the neighbor of Naranjito Morales to return to normal, who has before him the daunting task of rebuilding part of his house and removing the branches of the trees and the mud surrounding it. Marina Villén and Esther Alaejos (c) EFE Agency