Menendez Briefed by FEMA Leaders on Puerto Rico Disaster Response in Wake of Hurricane Maria

NEWARK, N.J. — At his request, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez received a briefing this morning from FEMA Regional Administrator John Rabin regarding the damage to the Island of Puerto Rico, the safety of its American citizens, and the state of the Federal government’s response.  Menendez said he would continue to receive updates from FEMA , communicate with the Government of Puerto Rico, and help lead efforts to provide needed relief to rebuild the island. 

“All of us have seen images of the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria as it tore across the island of Puerto Rico,” said Sen. Menendez, the highest ranking Latino in Congress.  “Millions of American citizens have lost everything and it will take the collective will and support of the entire nation to help them recover and rebuild.  I’m pleased the President moved quickly to declare a major disaster and put critical assistance on the ground, but the road to recovery will be long.  I will keep monitoring the situation and stand ready to support relief efforts and necessary emergency aid.”

Menendez received a full assessment from FEMA leadership, including: 

·         At the request Puerto Rico’s Governor Rosello, the President issued a verbal disaster declaration last night which currently includes 31 counties, starting from the southeast end of the island and moving diagonally across the state. The nature of the declaration will allow flexibility to add additional areas as the municipalities are able to assess.

·         The declaration authorizes debris removal, emergency protective measures, and individual assistance.

·         Approximately 300 FEMA employees are on the ground, including embeds with the governor’s staff and the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency (PREMA), as well as the Virginia Task Force 1 and 2.

·         100 percent of the island remains without power. After Irma, 50 percent of the residents were without power. That number dropped to 25 percent before Maria hit, but they are now back to a total loss.

·         FEMA will help assess all major hospitals to ensure they are all running on backup generators and are fully operational.

·         FEMA does not have an assessment of when power or communication will be restored. They have identified a number of the supplies that will be needed to begin work, but roads remain impassable. Supplies are already being loaded on barges, but they’ll need to open the seaports to receive them.

·         Further complicating matters, the distribution lines run over the mountains and there are still concerns about flooding and landslides.

·         FEMA, in coordination with the Department of Defense, are prepared to airlift critical supplies, including water, as soon as possible.

·         As of this moment, FEMA believes it has sufficient personnel to begin planning how to get infrastructure back online. Because the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is a government-owned utility, they don’t have the same mutual aid agreements as we are used to, here, so FEMA will be more heavily involved in identifying linemen and trucks to come help repair the power distribution system.