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hurricane maria puerto rico

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In a series of tweets, President Donald Trump has defended his reaction to the disaster in Puerto Rico, which has been ravaged by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.

Much of Puerto Rico territory has lost power, while residents say they are running low on medicines and food.

Critics have accused President Trump of being slow to respond, and of showing more concern for Texas and Florida after they were hit by hurricanes.

President Trump has announced he will visit Puerto Rico next week.

Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico on September 20, killing 16 people and knocking out electricity, water and telephone services.

The hurricane tore through the island as one of the most powerful storms in nearly 90 years.

About 44% of the 3.5 million residents living on the island are still without clean drinking water six days after the storm barreled through, the Defense Department said on September 26.

Image source WhiteHouse.gov

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Puerto Rico’s government has asked a judge to defer key deadlines in its bankruptcy case as it grapples with Maria’s devastation.

President Trump came under fire after he spent the weekend focusing on a feud with NFL players and coaches, instead of acknowledging the Puerto Rico disaster.

He tweeted about the crisis on September 25 – but angered critics by suggesting that Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt needed to be addressed amid its appeal for relief aid: “Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities – and doing well. #FEMA.”

On September 26, the White House announced that President Trump had increased federal funding and assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the storm.

The president said he would visit Puerto Rico on October 3 – nearly a fortnight after the storm struck – because it was the “earliest I can go without disrupting relief efforts”.

President Trump may also visit the US Virgin Islands, which was hit by both Hurricane Maria and Irma.

He said his administration was doing a “really good job” and that the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, was “so grateful”.

President Trump said rescue efforts were complicated because Puerto Rico was offshore.

“This is a thing called the Atlantic ocean, this is tough stuff,” he said.

He added: “Puerto Rico is very important to me. The people are fantastic. I grew up in New York so I know many Puerto Rican people.”

Ricardo Rossello told Reuters President Trump’s handling of the disaster had been “excellent” and that the government had “responded very quickly” to the crisis.

More than 10,000 US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff are on the ground in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to assist with relief efforts, according to the agency.

Hurricane Maria has left without power to the entire island of Puerto Rico, home to 3.5 million people, emergency officials have said.

Abner Gómez, head of the disaster management agency, said Hurricane Maria had damaged “everything in its path”.

He said that none of the customers of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority had any electricity.

Maria weakened to a category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph as it moved across the island.

“The information we received is not encouraging,” Abner Gómez told a briefing, urging people to stay in their homes.

Image source Good Free Photos

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Earlier, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello asked President Donald Trump to declare the island a disaster area after the storm unleashed heavy flooding and life-threatening winds.

The governor said major damage was inevitable, although 500 shelters had been established to protect people.

Hurricane Maria has already left seven people dead on the island of Dominica, which was badly affected on September 18.

Aerial footage shows flattened houses and the death toll on Dominica is likely to rise, with details remaining scant as communication links are down.

Images shared on social media show roofs being stripped away as winds as strong as 140 mph whipped trees and power lines in Puerto Rico’s capital city, San Juan.

Puerto Rico is facing $73 billionn in public debt and the damage left by Maria could exacerbate its financial crisis. Declaring a disaster would mean the island could receive more federal assistance in its recovery.

According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Maria made landfall in Yabucoa in the east of Puerto Rico on September 20 as a category 4 storm. It was the first category 4 hurricane to directly hit Puerto Rico since 1932.

Hours earlier, Maria barreled through the US Virgin Islands’ St Croix as a category 5 storm, sustaining winds of up to 175mph.

There was flooding in the French territory of Guadeloupe, where one person was killed by a falling tree and another died on the seafront. At least two others were missing after their ship sank near Desirade, the easternmost island in the archipelago.

Hurricane Maria is the second devastating storm to hit the Caribbean this season – the first being category 5 Irma earlier in September. Maria began moving roughly along the same track as Irma.

Officials in Puerto Rico feared the debris left by Irma could prove extremely dangerous in the high winds.