The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy at Breezy Point, New York. DVIDSHUB / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Wealthier counties receive more federal home buyouts in the wake of natural disasters than poorer areas, regardless of whether or not these homes are at increased risk of flooding, new research shows.
<p>A <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=1569a36581&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">study</a> published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances analyzes 40,000 voluntary buyouts made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 1989, finding that federal grants were given disproportionately to counties with higher population and income. </p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="b03bb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="P8V4I81576661334"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1181994490317492225" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Out TODAY in Science Advances: a national look at FEMA-funded buyouts. 49 states. 1000 counties. Rich, dense counti… https://t.co/pas1DXcgig</div> — A.R. Siders (@A.R. Siders)<a href="https://twitter.com/sidersadapts/statuses/1181994490317492225">1570644421.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>The study theorizes that wealthier counties have more resources to apply for and administer federal grants than poorer ones. The study also finds that within those wealthier counties, the federal money is often used to tear down homes in poorer neighborhoods — which authors posit could be due to a combination of factors, including that local officials "are using the buyouts as an opportunity to get rid of neighborhoods that they don't feel are desirable parts of their community," author A.R. Siders told the New York Times. </p><h4>For a deeper dive:</h4><p><a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=81e5519d4c&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">New York Times</a> $, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=5df3f9dc9d&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">NPR</a>, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=5fbea9fa44&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">AP</a><br></p>
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A 2017 flood in Elk Grove, California. Florence Low / California Department of Water Resources
By Tara Lohan
It's been the wettest 12 months on record in the continental United States. Parts of the High Plains and Midwest are still reeling from deadly, destructive and expensive spring floods — some of which have lasted for three months.
Mounting bills from natural disasters like these have prompted renewed calls to reform the National Flood Insurance Program, which is managed by Federal Emergency Management Agency and is now $20 billion in debt.
<p>The program was established in 1968 as a way to provide <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flood</a> insurance to properties with high flood risk — some of which is <a href="http://www.pciaa.net/docs/default-source/default-document-library/nfip_white_paper_june2011.pdf?sfvrsn=2" target="_blank">subsidized by taxpayers</a> — and to use management programs to help reduce risk.</p><p>But Jessie Ritter, director of water resources and coastal policy at the <a href="https://www.nwf.org/" target="_blank">National Wildlife Federation</a>, says the program has unintentionally done the opposite over the years. By offering government-funded insurance where private companies wouldn't, it's made it easier to build in flood-prone areas. Local land-use decisions in some places haven't helped, either.</p><p>Most people agree that some reform of the National Flood Insurance Program is needed. Four former FEMA administrators recently <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2019/05/13/document_daily_01.pdf" target="_blank">sent a letter to Congress</a> asking for just that. But legislators — who disagree how to accomplish that goal — have been <a href="https://www.insurancejournal.com/blogs/right-street/2018/07/09/494466.htm" target="_blank">kicking the can down the road</a> by issuing short-term extensions since the program's last five-year authorization lapsed in September 2017.</p><p>Most recently the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/443716-house-votes-to-extend-flood-insurance-program" target="_blank">House of Representatives voted</a> May 14 to approve the 11th <a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20190513/BILLS-116hr2578-SUS.pdf" target="_blank">short-term extension</a>. If the Senate agrees, the program would then carry on as-is until September 30.</p><p>Meanwhile homes and communities continue to flood and the insurance program's losses keep stacking up.</p><p>"In the absence of reforms, costs in taxpayer dollars and lives lost will only get worse," the former FEMA administrators wrote in their letter urging action.</p><p>It's past time to make the necessary changes, Ritter says. "Congress has been unable politically to get to a place where we can meaningfully reform this program and address some of the underlying symptoms that are making disasters so costly in our country," she said. "A perpetuation of the status quo makes no sense at a time when we are spending billions annually on relief in response to a continual string of disasters." This spring the most destructive Mississippi River floods in 25 years resulted in thousands of lost homes, damaged businesses and flooded farms.</p><p>House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters said the most recent extension, which she co-authored, gives more time for a bipartisan bill to attempt a larger reform of the program — and that this will be the last short-term extension. Waters has been a longstanding advocate for reforming the program and sponsored 2017 legislation that cancelled $16 billion of its debt, which had <a href="https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1522167351921-a5e457454262dd100e2f15a7210d21c5/Watermark_FY18_Q1_v6_508.pdf" target="_blank">climbed to $30 billion</a> that year in the wake of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-harvey" target="_self">Hurricane Harvey</a> and other disasters. Further reforms promised by Congress that year did not materialize.</p>
<h2>Mapping the Flood Line</h2><p>The program's growing debt is only part of the issue.</p><p>FEMA has been criticized for using outdated flood maps that don't accurately portray the risk that communities face, either now or in the near future. <a href="http://www.resilientbayarea.org/kathy-schaefer" target="_blank">Kathleen Schaefer</a>, a researcher at the University of California, Davis who spent a decade working as regional engineer for FEMA producing flood insurance maps for California, says that the current process to update maps is time-consuming, bureaucratic and costly.</p><p>And the data that the agency does have isn't granular enough to communicate property-level risk.</p><p>"One property to the next may have very different levels of risk based upon their actual elevation," explains Ritter. Soil type and land use on each property can also affect flooding. "And right now FEMA just doesn't have that level of sophistication in their flood maps."</p><p>It's not that the technology to do that doesn't exist — <a href="https://www.gislounge.com/predictions-match-reality-power-lidar-flood-warnings/" target="_blank">North Carolina is using it</a>— but it hasn't been mandated nationally for FEMA.</p><p>Another issue is the accuracy of the maps. If a property falls into what FEMA determines is a 100-year floodplain, owners with federally backed mortgages are required to purchase flood insurance. "Some of those maps are super outdated, and that floodplain line in some places, because of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a>, is probably no longer accurate," said Ritter.</p><p>The floodplain line also creates a false sense of security for those who own property outside of it and aren't required to purchase flood insurance but may still have some level of risk. FEMA's current system reduces flood risk to "in" or "out" — black or white. "And that's not how risk works," said Ritter. "Risk is shades of gray."</p><p>Schaefer and other researchers from the UC Davis Natural Hazards Research and Mitigation Group looked at severe <a href="https://californiawaterblog.com/2016/08/28/new-baton-rouge-flood-map-show-limits-of-current-risk-and-planning-methods/" target="_blank">flooding that claimed 13 lives in the Baton Rouge</a> area in 2016. They found that a third of the flooding was outside FEMA's 100-year flood zone.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUzOTg2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDg2MjA3MH0.aGhq0XsJYmqxUQtZeRT2p3PD6m5ev3Yyk7MBNGHQSfE/img.jpg?width=980" id="e661f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b07daccc1f93ff914ccf0f5aab212343" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Extensive flooding in southeast Texas from Hurricane Harvey
Photo by Penn State, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>"Many floodplain residents and political leaders falsely believe that flooding cannot occur beyond the mapped 100-year line," the researchers wrote. "But nationwide, roughly 25 percent of National Flood Insurance Program flood-damage claims occur outside of 100-year zones."</p>
<h2>Environmental Costs — and Solutions</h2><p>It's not just bad for property owners and taxpayers. There are environmental implications, too.</p><p>"Subsidizing insurance rates inadvertently encouraged development in floodplains that never should have been developed in the first place," said Ritter. "Not only does that decrease community resilience, it impacts habitat and wildlife." Natural floodplains are incredibly rich ecosystems that support fish, birds, plants and a host of other species.</p><p>Ritter says her organization would like to see more money from the program spent trying to prevent flood damages instead of paying billions to rebuild after a disaster — especially in areas with recurrent flooding. There's also a lot of untapped potential to restore natural features such as wetlands and floodplain habitat, which can reduce flood risk, protect communities and create environmental benefits, she says.</p><p>"Where those types of nature-based approaches can work, they should be incentivized and given first consideration," said Ritter. "If communities can reduce their rates by proactively reducing their risk, then it's a win-win across the board for everyone."</p>
<h2>Moving Forward</h2><p>Having worked at FEMA, Schaefer thinks the 50-year-old federal program, tied to the congressional rulemaking process, can't provide the localized approach that's currently needed.</p><p>"Any changes that you're going to make to the program, you'd have to make on a nationwide scale," she said. "And people on the Gulf Coast think about their flood risk differently than people in California's Central Valley — you're not going to be able to find the compromise that is going to get you where you need to go."</p><p>Schaefer instead sees an opportunity for a bigger role for the private market and <a href="https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/a-proposed-design-for-community-flood-insurance/" target="_blank">community flood insurance programs</a> that would allow for more detailed modeling to assess and mitigate risk.</p><p>Climate change should be creating a sense of urgency for program reforms, said Ritter. Average temperatures are increasing and the U.S. is seeing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">rising sea levels</a> in some coastal communities. It's also getting wetter — 2018 was the sixth year in a row that average rainfall in the U.S. was more than the 20th-century average. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">Hurricanes</a> are predicted to get stronger with climate change and natural disasters are already <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/06/natural-disasters-cost-91-billion-in-2018-federal-report.html" target="_blank">costing a fortune</a> — $91 billion in the U.S. alone last year. Hurricanes Michael and Florence accounted for $49.4 billion of those costs and resulted in more than 100 deaths.</p><p>"There is an important link between the National Flood Insurance Program and climate resiliency," said Ritter. Reforming the program "is a big opportunity to improve how we as a nation respond to and prepare for worsening impacts of climate change."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For grassroots organizing on this issue follow <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VeteransforClimateJustice?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VeteransforClimateJustice</a> via Army/Air Force Vet <a href="https://twitter.com/ColleenBoland?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ColleenBoland</a> <br><br>Flooding of Nebraska Air Force Base Illustrates Security Risk Posed by Climate Change <a href="https://t.co/ZCVyaRZc5x">https://t.co/ZCVyaRZc5x</a></p>— Dr. Sandra Steingraber (@ssteingraber1) <a href="https://twitter.com/ssteingraber1/status/1108358875206565889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Tara Lohan is deputy editor of The Revelator.</em><br/></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://therevelator.org/flood-insurance/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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FEMA Left 20,000 Pallets of Water Bottles on Puerto Rico Runway for at Least Four Months
13 September 2018
Politics
A Puerto Rico militia member loads water onto a truck at a FEMA distribution center in Ponce on Oct. 26, 2017. Army National Guard / Sgt. Avery Cunningham
As the federal government prepares for Hurricane Florence this week, alarming photos are raising fresh questions about its response to Hurricane Maria last year.
The photos, first reported by CBS Wednesday after going viral on social media the day before, show potentially millions of water bottles sitting on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico nearly a year after the storm.
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</p><div id="761a8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="X7ALAX1576663887"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1039712520024588290" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: What may be millions of water bottles. meant for victims of Hurricane Maria, have been sitting on a runwa… https://t.co/kD2lild9hv</div> — David Begnaud (@David Begnaud)<a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/statuses/1039712520024588290">1536721756.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>The water bottles were delivered to Puerto Rico by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Director of Disaster Operations Marty Bahamonde confirmed to CBS.<br></p><p> "If [FEMA] put that water on that runway there will be hell to pay ... If we did that, we're going to fess up to it," a senior FEMA official told CBS News' David Begnaud, who has covered the Maria recovery process extensively. </p><p>However, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fema-official-defends-agency-over-stockpiled-water-bottles-left-in-puerto-rico/" target="_blank">in an interview with CBS Thursday morning</a>, FEMA Deputy Administrator Daniel Kaniewski defended the placement of the water bottles.</p><p>He said they were excess water bottles not needed during recovery that were taken out of storage and placed on the runway in January to save money.</p><p>"I'm confident that those that needed those bottles of water got them during the response phase and these were excess bottles of water that were, again, transferred to save money for the American taxpayer in January," Kaniewski said.</p><p>The bottles were transferred to the Puerto Rican government in April, Kaniewski said, according to a transcript of the interview <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1040213503452303360" target="_blank">tweeted</a> by Begnaud. </p><p>In a <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1040215641754689536" target="_blank">video</a> posted on Twitter, Begnaud raised questions about Kaniewski's answers. </p><p>"If you're trying to save the taxpayer money, why wouldn't you move it to another facility where you house supplies that can be used in a later disaster?" Begnaud asked. </p><p>Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration Executive Director Carlos Mercader confirmed the April transfer in a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/19iQHf739j0WEld8xuUYiXvilLtsC-lAp/preview" target="_blank">statement</a> provided to CBS Wednesday. </p><p>According to that statement, a career official from Puerto Rico's General Services Administration (GSA) requested the excess water bottles from FEMA on April 17 and the request was granted April 26. </p><p>The GSA claimed about 20,000 pallets of water, CBS reported. </p><p>On May 30, the government collected some of the water bottles from the landing strip and distributed 732 pallets of water between that date and Aug. 12, the statement said. </p><p>The government stopped distributing the bottles when they received complaints about the taste and odor of the water. The Puerto Rican government then decided to test the bottles and return them to the federal government. </p><p>The water bottles sat on the runway for four months before being passed off to the Puerto Rican government, according to Kaniewski 's own account. </p><p>Challenging Kaniewski's timeline is the statement by a member of the Puerto Rico United Forces of Rapid Action Abdiel Santana, who took the photos of the bottles that began circulating on social media Tuesday.</p><p>He told CBS Wednesday he originally noticed the bottles last fall and took photos at the time.</p><p>Begnaud <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1039912612274884609" target="_blank">said on Twitter</a> that blue shows up on satellite images of the runway starting in January.</p><p>The federal government's response to Hurricane Maria has been in the news in recent weeks after the Puerto Rican government <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/official-hurricane-maria-death-toll-raised-2599913746.html" target="_self">raised the official death toll</a> from 64 to 2,975 this August. </p><p>In a press conference Tuesday, President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a> dismissed those criticisms, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fema-money-ice-hurricane-florence-2604207052.html" target="_self">saying</a> his administration's response to Hurricane Maria was "incredibly successful." </p><p>San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz criticized his self-congratulatory tone in an interview Tuesday, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/13/politics/trump-puerto-rico-death-toll/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>, saying no public official should ever be content with everything they did in response to a disaster. </p><p>"But the president continues to refuse to acknowledge his responsibility, and the problem is that if he didn't acknowledge it in Puerto Rico, God bless the people of South Carolina and the people of North Carolina," Cruz said.</p><p>In a tweet Thursday, Trump doubled down, denying the accuracy of the revised death toll of nearly 3,000.</p><p>"3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico," Trump tweeted.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="fd30a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4XYZ0Y1576663887"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1040224535793070080" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This rejection of the death toll in Puerto Rico, by the President of the United States, rejects facts. https://t.co/rkgoGNwXn7</div> — David Begnaud (@David Begnaud)<a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/statuses/1040224535793070080">1536843830.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>Cruz tweeted back her vehement disagreement, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/13/donald-trump-says-hurricane-maria-death-toll-number-was-made-up-by-democrats" target="_blank">The Guardian reported Thursday</a>.<br></p><p>"This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch. YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING!," she wrote.</p>
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</p><div id="e8ac0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B1PA2C1576663887"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1040224123153252352" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As #HurricaneFlorence Approaches, Document Shows Trump Admin Funneled Nearly $10 Million From FEMA to ICE https://t.co/TBUp734TOF</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1040224123153252352">1536843732.0</a></blockquote></div>
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As Hurricane Florence Approaches, Document Shows Trump Admin Funneled Nearly $10 Million From FEMA to ICE
12 September 2018
Politics
An army helicopter delivers FEMA supplies to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last year. Mario Tama / Getty Images
As Hurricane Florence threatens the East Coast, a newly released document shows that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) transferred almost $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show reported Tuesday night.
<p style="">The document was released by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who said he believed the transfer of $9,755,303 occurred this summer.</p><p style="">"$10 million dollars comes out of FEMA when we're facing hurricane season, knowing what happened last year, and then look what we've had since?" Merkley told Maddow, referring to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hawaii-hurricane-lane-flooding-2599467495.html" target="_self">Hurricane Lane's</a> near miss with Hawaii, a tropical storm that hit Mississippi, and the oncoming Hurricane Florence.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
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</p><p style="">The money was earmarked for more detention beds and for ICE's "transportation and removal program," Maddow said.<br></p><p style="">DHS confirmed that the transfers were made, but said they did not come from any of FEMA's "disaster response and recovery efforts," Maddow reported. </p><p style="">Homeland Security Press Secretary Tyler Houlton tweeted on Wednesday that the FEMA money did not come from disaster relief, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/11/politics/fema-ice-hurricane-funding/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. </p><p style="">"The money in question—transferred to ICE from FEMA's routine operating expenses—could not have been used for hurricane response due to appropriation limitations. DHS/FEMA stand fiscally and operationally ready to support current and future response and recovery needs," Houlton said.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="773a5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="E1S8461576663356"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1039706887720185857" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The money in question — transferred to ICE from FEMA’s routine operating expenses — could not have been used for hu… https://t.co/Sycvc4JDwu</div> — DHS Press Secretary (@DHS Press Secretary)<a href="https://twitter.com/SpoxDHS/statuses/1039706887720185857">1536720413.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p style="">However, Maddow and Merkley noted that the document does appear to show money coming out of "response and recovery."<br></p><p style="">Merkley told Maddow he came across the documents as part of his work opposing the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Trump</a> administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S. border as part of a drive to criminally detain everyone caught crossing the border illegally. </p><p style="">The FEMA money is part of a broader transfer of $201.88 million to ICE from other DHS agencies.</p><p style="">"Without the transfers and reprogramming identified in this notification, ICE will not be able to fulfill its adult detention requirements in FY 2018. Insufficient funding could require ICE to release any new book-ins and illegal border violators. ICE will not be able to deport those who have violated immigration laws," the document said.</p><p style="">Some scholars <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-refugees-trump-2580057839.html" target="_self">have linked</a> the increased presence of entire Central American families at the southern border to pressures related to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a>, which President Donald Trump famously denies is a problem. </p><p style="">Climate change is also making <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricanes</a> like Florence both larger and slower moving, which allows them to do more damage, especially in terms of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/11/646313648/climate-change-drives-bigger-wetter-storms-storms-like-florence" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. </p><p style="">The document release also comes weeks after the official <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-maria" target="_self">Hurricane Maria</a> death toll <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/official-hurricane-maria-death-toll-raised-2599913746.html" target="_self">was raised</a> from 64 to nearly 3,000. </p><p style=""><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> continues to insist his administration responded well to the storm that devastated Puerto Rico. </p><p style="">"I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful. Puerto Rico was actually our toughest one of all because it's an island. You can't truck things onto it. Everything is by boat," Trump told reporters Tuesday as he discussed preparations for Hurricane Florence, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/12/politics/donald-trump-hurricane-florence-puerto-rico/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="2dc6f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="CWK08Y1576663356"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="916455566737924096" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">FEMA Scrubs Data About Puerto Rico's Lack of Water and Electricity https://t.co/1A0BYmwcOa @Connect4Climate @ClimateReality</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/916455566737924096">1507335008.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Many roofs were torn off when high winds from Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. U.S. Air Force photo by A1C Nicholas Dutton
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was sorely unprepared to handle Hurricane Maria and the subsequent crisis in Puerto Rico, the agency admitted in an internal performance assessment memo released last week.
FEMA's after-action report details how the agency's warehouse on the island was nearly empty due to relief efforts from Hurricane Irma when Maria made landfall last September, with no cots or tarps and little food and water.
<p>The report finds that the agency was severely understaffed and relied on "underqualified" staffers, and that leadership lacked key information on the island's infrastructure both before and after the storm. The report advises that communities and families in remote areas must prepare independently of the agency for future <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">weather</a> disasters.</p><p>As reported by NPR:</p><blockquote>President Trump, at one point, responded to questions about the response, saying, Puerto Ricans, quote, "want everything done for them." And San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who ended up in her own verbal battle with Trump, said she believes this report shows FEMA was negligent in how it responded to the island. Inside the agency, FEMA Administrator Brock Long, published a response acknowledging that the agency had work to do. He said the report gives FEMA the, quote, "opportunity to learn from the 2017 hurricane season and be more prepared for the next one." And that hurricane season is now a month underway.</blockquote><p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/opinion/editorials/fema-puerto-rico-maria-irma.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a> editorial board described FEMA's response as "tragically inadequate" and warned that the agency must do better:</p><blockquote>There can be no excuse next time for the sort of incompetence and chaos that marked FEMA's work on Puerto Rico. But there is another lesson that does not figure into FEMA's account.</blockquote><blockquote>Many mainland Americans persist in regarding Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens. The condescension with which Puerto Rico is too often held was clearly behind President Trump's downplaying the disaster and his complaints about the cost, and most likely behind the radically underreported casualties.</blockquote><blockquote>When the next killer storms strike, and they will, all Americans should be secure in the knowledge that their government, local and federal, will be there ready and able to help.</blockquote>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="dc028" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="XJZX8J1576664027"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="963482525782945794" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Puerto Rico Needs Your Help for Recovery, But Also for Reform https://t.co/NZX5J6ujJu #PuertoRico @greenpeaceusa… https://t.co/ujYYcd844Z</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/963482525782945794">1518547109.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/us/fema-puerto-rico-maria.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/14/629131912/fema-internal-report-cites-problems-with-agencys-response-to-hurricane-maria" target="_blank">NPR</a>, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/underprepared-understaffed-uninformed-fema-audit-faults-agency-response/story?id=56558164" target="_blank">ABC</a>, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/fema-report-acknowledges-failures-in-puerto-rico-disaster-response/" target="_blank">Frontline</a>, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fema-hurricane-maria-response-report_us_5b48b481e4b022fdcc58c9e2" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a>. Commentary: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/opinion/editorials/fema-puerto-rico-maria-irma.html" target="_blank">New York Times editorial</a></p><p> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Hurricane Harvey's record rains were made at least three times more likely by climate change, scientists calculated. Joseph Cannon
Last year, one of the hottest years in modern history, was also the costliest year ever for weather disasters, setting the U.S. back a record-setting $306 billion in spending aid and relief cost.
But it appears the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency that responds to hurricanes, flooding and wildfires, is ignoring a critical factor that exacerbates these natural disasters: climate change.
<p style="">
On Thursday, FEMA released its
<a href="https://www.fema.gov/strategic-plan" target="_blank">Strategic Plan</a> for the next four years, which replaces the Obama-era version that made repeat mentions of climate change.
</p><p style="">
The new document does not mention the terms "climate change," "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise">sea level rise</a>" or even "<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a>." The only phrasing that comes close is "rising natural hazard risk" and "pre-disaster mitigation," without mentioning what drives those risks.
</p><p style="">
The plan states: "Disaster costs are expected to continue to increase due to rising natural hazard risk, decaying critical infrastructure, and economic pressures that limit investments in risk resilience. As good stewards of taxpayer dollars, FEMA must ensure that our programs are fiscally sound. Additionally, we will consider new pathways to long-term disaster risk reduction, including increased investments in pre-disaster mitigation."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzQ0MDE2MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzE2MDQ3OX0.HKGN_vH1t3rsHbJQM-IDpZD2JPOyMXrnupyV1nnqvtQ/img.png?width=980" id="ead56" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3178e72736fb5d3ec047cec8186e0120" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">FEMA's Strategic Plan for 2018-2022</small>
</p><p style="">
In comparison, the
<a href="https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1405716454795-3abe60aec989ecce518c4cdba67722b8/July18FEMAStratPlanDigital508HiResFINALh.pdf" target="_blank">2014-2018 Strategic Plan</a> from President Barack Obama's FEMA highlighted the necessity to adapt to future climate-influenced risks:
</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">
"Scientific evidence indicates that the climate is changing and significant economic, social, and environmental consequences can be expected as a result. A changing climate is already resulting in quantifiable changes to the risks communities face, showing that future risks are not the same as those faced in the past. State, tribal, territorial, and local demands for climate-enabled risk management information and tools are expected to rise and evolve as the need to adapt to climate change increases. The emergency management community will need to adapt appropriately to these changing risks as they strengthen their risk-management programs."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzQ0MDE4Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTgwMDk5Mn0.ly_zBvx41H6h_ZDsRTAsiPqRdkCsxInmynr-s5XUfr4/img.png?width=980" id="74ccc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7210174e7488fdb5216d1618c06e465b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">FEMAs Strategic Plan for 2014-2018</small>
</p><p style="">
Responding to the report, FEMA Public Affairs Director William Booher told
<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/15/594140026/fema-drops-climate-change-from-its-strategic-plan" target="_blank">NPR</a>, "It is evident that this strategic plan fully incorporates future risks from all hazards regardless of cause. Building upon the foundation established by FEMA's previous two Strategic Plans, this plan commits the agency, and the nation, to taking proactive steps to increasing pre-disaster investments in preparedness and mitigation."
</p><p style="">
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/fema-strips-mention-of-climate-change-from-its-strategic-plan" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a> noted that current FEMA director Brock Long, who was appointed by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">President Donald Trump</a>, has skirted around the issue of man-made climate change.
</p><p style="">
"The term climate change has become such a political hot button that, I think, it keeps us from having a real dialogue," he told the publication last summer.
</p><p style="">
Long also told
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/12/politics/trump-climate-change-silence/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> in September, "Regardless of what causes disasters, it's our job within the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to manage the consequences."
</p>
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A citizen of Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, returns home with water and food provided by FEMA on Oct. 17, 2017. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr.
UPDATE: Since the release of NPR report and a flood of angry reactions from politicians, FEMA said it never intended to stop giving aid to Puerto Rico and will continue to hand out supplies for as long as necessary.
William Booher, an agency spokesman, told the New York Times that Wednesday was not the actual shut off date but rather an internal planning date to evaluate if the island could still justify needing assistance. Booher also told NPR that date "was mistakenly provided."
"This aid is not stopping," Booher told the Times. "There was no, and is no, current plan to stop providing these commodities, as long as there continues to be an identified need for them."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will "officially shut off" food and water aid to
Puerto Rico four months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
"The reality is that we just need to look around. Supermarkets are open, and things are going back to normal," Alejandro De La Campa, FEMA's director in Puerto Rico, told NPR. "If we're giving free water and food, that means that families are not going to supermarkets to buy."
<p>
"It is affecting the economy of Puerto Rico. So we need to create a balance. With the financial assistance we're providing to families and the municipalities, they're able to go back to the normal economy," he added.
</p><p>
The remaining food and water supplies and its distribution will be turned over to the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency.
</p><p>
NPR reported that FEMA has distributed more than 30 million gallons of potable water and nearly 60 million meals to the island's residents to date. The agency has also approved more than $500 million in Maria-related public assistance and disbursed an additional $3.2 million in unemployment aid to people whose jobs were affected by the storm.
</p><p>
However, parts of the U.S. territory have struggled to recover after the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-2487925359.html">Category 4 storm</a> and want the federal aid to continue. A third of Puerto Rico is <a href="https://www.aeepr.com/Servicios/listasectores.asp?pueblo=GUAYNABO" target="_blank">still without power</a>. Hundreds of thousands of people still lack access to potable water.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="23746" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SZLVNC1576683857"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="956110601083850752" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Puerto Rico Plans to Privatize PREPA as Critics Warn of 'Maximum Amount of Corruption and a Minimal Amount of Elect… https://t.co/vDmvmQytwZ</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/956110601083850752">1516789505.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
In Morovis, a municipality with a median income less than $18,000 and where 51 percent live below the poverty line, 80 percent of residents are still without electricity, according to Mayor Carmen Maldonado.
</p><p>
"There are some municipalities that may not need the help anymore, because they've got nearly 100 percent of their energy and water back," Maldonado told NPR. "Ours is not so lucky."
</p><p>
"In municipalities like this one, where families are going out to work just to buy gas to run a generator, it becomes very hard," the mayor continued. "Because money they would use to buy food they're instead using to buy fuel."
</p><p>
"This is all something that FEMA should contemplate before eliminating its delivery of these supplies."
</p><p>
San Juan Mayor
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/carmen-yul%C3%ADn-cruz" target="_blank">Carmen Yulín Cruz</a>, who has been highly critical <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_blank">President Trump</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fema-san-juan-mayor-2494757627.html" target="_blank">FEMA's relief efforts</a> in Puerto Rico, was taken aback by the NPR report.
</p><p>
She tweeted, "This is the kind of indifference that must be stopped. Enough."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="fde6a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="YP0HBS1576683857"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="958337266975420417" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is the kind of indifference that must be stopped. Enough. https://t.co/kwxgvBS7qm @SenGillibrand @NydiaVelazquez @SenSanders @SenWarren</div> — Carmen Yulín Cruz (@Carmen Yulín Cruz)<a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/statuses/958337266975420417">1517320384.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
FEMA has clarified that it will still provide supplies to volunteer organizations and nonprofits in rural areas.
</p><p>
Eileen Lainez, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, <a href="https://twitter.com/FEMAspox/status/958364792603004928" target="_blank">tweeted</a> on Tuesday: "Our support to Puerto Rico's recovery continues. The commercial supply chain for food/water is available. However, <a href="https://twitter.com/fema" target="_blank">@FEMA</a> will continue to support documented needs that Puerto Rico identifies, & we're providing supplies to voluntary agencies/nonprofits for those in rural areas."
</p><p>
AmeriCorps also tweeted, "AmeriCorps members are still on the ground in Puerto Rico helping families affected by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneMaria?src=hash" target="_blank">#HurricaneMaria</a>."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="08884" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="T5XTM51576683857"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="958102624900927488" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">AmeriCorps members are still on the ground in Puerto Rico helping families affected by #HurricaneMaria. These… https://t.co/iQ5LiCb4DN</div> — AmeriCorps (@AmeriCorps)<a href="https://twitter.com/AmeriCorps/statuses/958102624900927488">1517264441.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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Hearing with San Juan Mayor Cancelled, Puerto Rico Confirms 911 Post-Maria Cremations
31 October 2017
Popular
A patient crosses the brow of a ship docked pierside in San Juan, Puerto Rico. U.S. Department of Defense
The House Committee on Homeland Security abruptly cancelled Wednesday's hearing with FEMA Administrator Brock Long on the federal government's response and recovery efforts for recent disasters, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the wildfires in the West.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who has been highly critical President Trump and FEMA's relief efforts in Puerto Rico, arrived in Washington, DC yesterday after being invited to testify at the hearing. In a video posted to social media, she raised questions about the sudden cancellation.
<p style="">
"I'm just wondering, what are they afraid of?" Cruz asked.
</p><p style="">
The hearing had been canceled twice before due to hurricanes Harvey and Irma. No reason was given for the latest cancellation and a rescheduled date has not been announced.
</p><p style="">
But CBS News reporter David Begnaud, who has been
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/puerto-rico-hurricane-damage-david-begnaud/" target="_blank">extensively covering</a> the crisis in Puerto Rico, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/108679513654/videos/10155281706478655/" target="_blank">wrote</a>: "A source says the suspicion is some of the committee members didn't want a confrontation between Long and the Mayor."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="936eb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="J8NABI1576663054"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="925234903737913344" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Republicans cancel Hearing where Brock Long FEMA Dir and myself where to testify on FEMA’s readiness in PR. What ar… https://t.co/y631BJ3tqA</div> — Carmen Yulín Cruz (@Carmen Yulín Cruz)<a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/statuses/925234903737913344">1509428165.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p style="">
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, released a statement criticizing the committee for attempting to "silence" the mayor and shield the Trump administration from "another bad news story."
</p><p style="">
<span></span>"I invited the Mayor of San Juan to testify before our Committee's hearing on FEMA's preparedness and response capabilities so our entire Committee could receive an accurate picture of what is happening in Puerto Rico from someone who has been on the ground since day one," Thompson said.
</p><p style="">
<span></span>"It is inexcusable that the Republicans have delayed this hearing for the third time with no rational reason in a blatant attempt to silence the Mayor and shield the Trump Administration from another bad news story. It is clear that House Republicans and the Administration fear the Mayor and her telling her story." he continued.
</p><p style="">
"Now the Committee on Homeland Security—the authorizing committee of DHS—won't be hearing from the Mayor or FEMA Administrator Long even though they will both be on Capitol Hill this week."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="b1a85" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="GEOAOQ1576663054"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="925327515186548736" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Thank you, Mayor Cruz. We will not stop until Republicans acknowledge the hurdles the people of Puerto Rico are fac… https://t.co/LY5Ji3kR8W</div> — Bennie G. Thompson (@Bennie G. Thompson)<a href="https://twitter.com/BennieGThompson/statuses/925327515186548736">1509450246.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p>
<p style="">
Many questions are being raised about the federal government's relief response to the storm-wrecked U.S. territory.
<a href="http://estatus.pr/" target="_blank">As of Tuesday</a>, less than 30 percent of Puerto Rico's electricity has been restored.
</p><p style="">
The Homeland Security committee was expected to grill Long and other officials at the hearing over several issues including
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whitefish" target="_blank">Whitefish Energy</a> Holdings' <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/whitefish-san-juan-2501761043.html" target="_blank">controversial</a>, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/whitefish-contract-cancellation-2503767937.html" target="_blank">recently cancelled</a>, $300 million contract to help rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid.
</p><p style="">
"I visited Puerto Rico earlier this month and it is painfully clear that the real story of the plight of our fellow Americans in a humanitarian crisis is not being told," Thompson continued in his statement. "The federal response to hurricanes hitting Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is inadequate in almost every respect and the situation is still dire. The American people deserve to know what went wrong during this Administration's first hurricane season so we can make sure none of our fellow Americans ever have to go through this again."
</p><p style="">
Meanwhile,
<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/nidhiprakash/puerto-rico-natural-causes?utm_term=.qaB479mBLb#.hvx4pNM9eZ" target="_blank">Buzzfeed News</a> reported Friday that the Puerto Rican government has allowed 911 bodies to be cremated since Hurricane Maria made landfall but "not one of them were physically examined by a government medical examiner to determine if it should be included in the official death toll."
</p><p style="">
The cremations were carried out between Sept. 20 and Oct. 18. and the people are listed as having died from natural causes.
</p><p style="">
But directors of the funeral homes and crematoriums told Buzzfeed they were not given official guidance on what was considered a hurricane-related death. This confusion could mean that the official death count might not include all the deaths that resulted from the Category 4 storm.
</p><p style="">
Puerto Rican officials stand by the official hurricane death toll of 51.
</p>
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I’m a Librarian in Puerto Rico, and This Is My Hurricane Maria Survival Story
27 October 2017
Climate
Michael Jimanez / GoFundMe
By Evelyn Milagros Rodriguez, University of Puerto Rico—Humacao
I've always been fascinated by storms, particularly Puerto Rico's own history of them. I think it's because I was born in September 1960 during Hurricane Donna. In its wake, that storm left more than 100 dead in Humacao, the city where I am now a special collections librarian at the University of Puerto Rico.
In 1990, Israel Matos, the National Weather Service Forecast Officer in San Juan, told me that "the tropics are unpredictable." That comment only increased my interest in storms. Now, with the people of Puerto Rico still reeling from Hurricane Maria more than a month after it hit the island, his words seem prescient.
<p style="">Today I have–if not the honor, then the duty–to describe, firsthand, what it is to live through the aftermath of the worst storm <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/23/harvey-irma-maria-why-is-this-hurricane-season-so-bad/" target="_blank">of this brutal hurricane season</a>.</p><p style=""><strong>Academic Crisis</strong></p><p style="">Since the storm I haven't been able to go to work at the library on the Humacao campus. At 88,000 square feet and three stories, the biblioteca is the biggest building on campus, and it's among the worst damaged by Maria.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style=""><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xMjgzOTAzMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjgwMTA3Mn0.duVnuXwrgnWe-pc679F3lm2q88OKOSRhjaVWRy0VaGU/img.jpg?width=980" id="59558" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3aed4b71625df949c4295e119c2ed23e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small placeholder="add caption..." class="image-media media-caption">The library at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao. </small><small placeholder="add photo credit..." class="image-media media-photo-credit">Evelyn M. Rodríguez</small></p><p style="">It's mold-infested and the roof is leaking, so there's a lot of work to be done in both repairs and cleaning before students can use it. The mold has gotten into our collection—from books and papers to magazines—and most of the furniture and computers will have to be replaced.<br></p><p style="">According to the <a href="http://www.elvocero.com/educacion/da-os-a-la-upr-ascienden-a-millones/article_67a77ae0-b2d6-11e7-8701-cf1f348f6895.html" target="_blank">general damage report for the University of Puerto Rico</a>, the infrastructure in all 11 campuses of the university system suffered severe losses.</p><p style="">The Humacao campus, located on the island's eastern side, was the hardest hit, with damages calculated at <a href="http://dialogoupr.com/ascienden-32-millones-los-danos-en-upr-humacao/" target="_blank">more than $35 million</a>. Classes will start again on Oct. 31.</p><p style="">Students at the Río Piedras campus, <a href="https://baeuprrp.com/2017/10/05/carta-circular-a-la-comunidad-universitaria/" target="_blank">which has been partially closed</a> since <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-irma/hurricane-irma-skirts-puerto-rico-lashing-it-powerful-winds-flooding-n799086" target="_blank">Hurricane Irma skirted Puerto Rico on Sept. 6</a>, have had only a week of class so far this year.</p><p>Five weeks after Hurricane Maria, all the campuses have now reissued their academic calendars and classes are resuming, though in some places the first semester will run through January to make up for lost time.</p><p style=""><strong>A Culture of Catastrophe</strong></p><p style="">Starting on Sept. 20, Hurricane Maria swamped Puerto Rico with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/19/category-5-hurricane-maria-is-a-disaster-scenario-for-puerto-rico-and-virgin-islands-jose-to-brush-by-new-england/?utm_term=.c525af151c1a" target="_blank">20 inches of rain and battered it with 150 mph winds</a> for more than 30 hours.</p><p>The resulting <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/26/16365994/hurricane-maria-2017-puerto-rico-san-juan-humanitarian-disaster-electricty-fuel-flights-facts" target="_blank">humanitarian crisis</a> has been widely reported worldwide: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/us/puerto-rico-electricity-power.html?_r=0" target="_blank">80 percent of the island is still without electricity</a> and there is not <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/us/puerto-rico-superfund-water/index.html" target="_blank">enough drinking water</a>.</p><p style="">Communications—radio, television, telephones and internet—are now recovering slowly, after weeks of near nonexistence. Having said that, it took me more than two weeks just to write this article, between finding somewhere to charge my laptop and locating an internet connection strong enough to research the data and send a file by email. Eventually I discovered a Starbucks near my house with both electricity and Wi-Fi. Nothing is easy.</p><p>What outsiders are unable to see, perhaps, is that an entire culture has arisen around the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-maria-firsthand-2500191361.html">catastrophe</a> caused by Hurricane Maria—one with typically catastrophic traits: material scarcity, emotional trauma, economic catastrophe, environmental devastation.</p><p>Puerto Ricans are now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/us/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-coping.html" target="_blank">facing a dramatically different way of life</a>, which means our relatives and friends in the diaspora are, too.</p><p>Nothing about life resembles anything close to normal. An estimated 100,000 homes and buildings were <a href="https://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2017/10/10/485835/danos-del-huracan-maria-en-puerto-rico-abren-puertas-a-mano-de-obra-dominicana-para-reconstruccion" target="_blank">demolished in the storm</a>, and 90 percent of the island's infrastructure <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/9/30/16384176/army-corps-puerto-rico-iraq-hurricane-maria" target="_blank">is damaged or destroyed</a>. Not only are there <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/puerto-rico-water-2497286630.html">shortages of water</a> and electricity but also of food, highways, bridges, security forces and medical facilities.</p><p>It's dangerous to venture outside at night. An <a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2017/09/20/el-gobernador-de-puerto-rico-declaro-el-toque-de-queda-tras-el-paso-del-huracan-maria/" target="_blank">island-wide curfew</a> was lifted last week, but without streetlights, stoplights or police, driving and walking are dangerous after dark.</p><p>The official tally of missing people varies, with police tallies ranging from <a href="http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/policia-tribunales/nota/bajaa60lacifradepersonasdesaparecidastrasmaria-1251791/" target="_blank">60</a> to <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/buscandesaparecidostraselpasodelciclon-2368133/" target="_blank">80</a> right now. Considering Puerto Rico's hazardous conditions and limited health care services, that number is sure to rise. We are well aware that epidemic diseases, <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/10/18/16489180/water-crisis-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria" target="_blank">including leptospirosis and cholera</a>, could come next. Health concerns are further stoked by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-racial-bias-driving-trumps-neglect-of-puerto-rico-85662" target="_blank">delays and disarray of the various federal agencies tasked with handling this emergency</a>.</p><p style="">A deep uncertainty looms over our futures. There is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mental-health-toll-of-puerto-ricos-prolonged-power-outages-85941" target="_blank">post-traumatic stress</a> involved in surviving in an overwhelming situation like this, so as a people we're now waking up to that psychological pain, too.</p><p style=""><strong>The Outlook From Here</strong></p><p style="">In short, Hurricane Maria has changed the modern history of Puerto Rico. For those who, like me, are curious about such things, the last storm of this caliber was <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-ahurricane14sep14-story.html" target="_blank">San Felipe II</a>, in 1928.</p><p>Known in the U.S. as the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/mfl/okeechobee" target="_blank">Great Okeechobee Hurricane</a>, that massive storm was so destructive that it basically plunged Puerto Rico and Florida into the Great Depression <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-ahurricane14sep14-story.html" target="_blank">a year before the rest of the country</a>.</p><p>In some ways, though, Puerto Ricans are well prepared for these challenges, for the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/puerto-rico-history-and-heritage-13990189/" target="_blank">history of the island</a> is one of uncertainty and trouble.</p><p>Puerto Rico has never had a sovereign government. Instead, it has always been bound to some other larger and more powerful state. First it was Spain, which <a href="http://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/colonial-genocides-project/puerto-rico" target="_blank">colonized our territory in 1508</a>.</p><p>Then, since <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/puerto-rico-invaded" target="_blank">the 1898 invasion</a>, it's been the United States, a country with which Puerto Rico enjoys a tricky political relationship. That's very clear right now, as the Trump administration wavers in coming to our aid.</p><p style=""><strong>Mired in Uncertainty</strong></p><p style="">Even before the hurricane arrived, Puerto Rico was facing uncertainty around another major challenge: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt.html" target="_blank">bankruptcy</a>. Considering lost pensions, jobs and savings, the real financial costs surely exceed by billions <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2017/07/07/whats-at-stake-in-a-puerto-rican-bankruptcy/#77f87ddb4247" target="_blank">the official sum of $123 billion in unpaid government debt</a>.</p><p>Hurricane Maria has deepened this economic crisis, creating a ripple effect that touches everyone across all levels of society.</p><p>Everyone is mired in uncertainty. What is the solution to this cascading set of problems? How long will recovery take? What could actually make life better for us? What will we miss? Will anything ever be the same?</p><p>Among all this concern and confusion, though, some things have become clearer since the storm. On this once-green island, the hurricane <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-agriculture-.html" target="_blank">blew down</a> and <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/10/01/554753135/after-hurricane-s-wrath-puerto-rico-s-green-forests-turn-bare-brown" target="_blank">shredded</a> thousands and thousands of trees.</p><p>The sky is more visible now. Houses once hidden are exposed, and we discern entire communities that that we rarely saw before.</p><p>There's graffiti popping up across the island, written by someone identified as "JC," who reminds Puerto Ricans as a kind of consolation, that "behind the trees live a lot of people."</p><p>Just as new environments are created in areas opened up by the hurricane, with trees and plants sprouting afresh, over time we'll find that our current uncertainties also fade and transform. A brand new way of life is emerging among all Puerto Ricans—those who stayed, those who left, their relatives and their friends.</p><p style=""><em><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-a-librarian-in-puerto-rico-and-this-is-my-hurricane-maria-survival-story-86426" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></em></p>
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Taken on Oct. 11 in Barrio Maní, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Cathy Mazak
By Cathy Mazak
I'm so happy to be able to communicate with you again. As many of you know, I live in western Puerto Rico. In this post I want to tell you a little about my family's experience with Maria, and how you can help Puerto Rico.
On Thursday Sept. 21, when the sun came up, I looked out our front door at a wintery landscape. There was not one leaf on one tree in all the tropical forest that surrounds our property. Instead, the walls of my house were plastered with one-inch-by-one-inch pieces of leaves. It was as if they had been stripped off the trees, chopped in a food processor, and coated onto our house with a pressure washer.
<p style="">I could see houses that I've never seen before, exposed by the now leafless landscape. Whole neighborhoods were laid bare. Two of our neighbors had lost their roofs. The creek that we cross daily was flowing over its little bridge (which we could now clearly see through the bare trees). The Añasco River valley, usually green, was a gigantic, shining lake.</p><p>Our house had about ¼" of water in every room. It had squirted in through previously invisible crevices in the tightly shut aluminum windows. At the beginning of the storm we naively tried to put towels on the windowsills, but keeping water out became a hopeless task.</p><p>So that first day we just pushed out water, mopped the floors. It took all day, and part of the next day. We kept waiting for our cell signal to return, turning on and off the phone. Again, in retrospect, naïve. It would be two weeks before we could make a call from our phones.</p><p style="">On Friday Sept. 22, my husband decided that the weather was stable enough to inspect our road. It had continued to rain and blow all of Thursday, so it had not been safe to go out before then. He took the kids and the dog with him. When they got back he announced that there were so many huge trees down over the road that it we would be lucky to get out in a week.</p><p style="">He was right. Every day for a week he went out with my son and they cut trees, my husband with the chainsaw and my seven-year-old son with hedge trimmers.</p><p>I emptied boxes from our recent move that had gotten wet in the garage, desperately searching for the one battery-operated radio that I knew we had somewhere. Before I found it we had been listening to the radio in the car, limiting ourselves to ten minutes at a time to not waste the car battery, dying to hear what was going on. We could only get one local radio station, <a href="http://www.wkjb710.com/" target="_blank">WKJB</a>. They broadcast local news about the storm for 24 hours a day every day.</p><p>That radio station was our lifeline, our connection to our community, who was suffering. It was the only way we knew about what was happening to anyone else. We heard the mayors of the western towns report on the operation of the hospitals, accessibility of the roads, tanks of fresh water they were trying to distribute to their people. And it became clear: there was no help from San Juan, no help from Washington. In those first two weeks all the action was local, micro. It was neighbors with machetes, the municipal governments figuring out how to get diesel to the hospitals to power generators, organizing trucks of potable water to provide an oasis for people to come and fill whatever containers they had, if they could.</p><p style="">The problems were, and still are, so, so basic. Get to water and food, if you can pass through the roads blocked by fallen trees, mudslides, and power lines. Have cash to buy things if you can get to them. Find a gas station with gas.</p><p style="">For us, it was like that for the first two weeks. But for many, it's still like that. On the radio we can sometimes hear the governor, who paints a picture that everything is OK. During the first weeks he would report things like: the national guard delivered diesel to a dialysis center in Cayey. One dialysis center? How many dialysis centers are there in Puerto Rico? There are at least three in my town, and there are 78 towns. Without electricity, those patients die.</p><p style="">And they are dying, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/10/18/real-death-toll-puerto-rico-probably-450-much-higher-than-official-count/774918001/" target="_blank">their numbers obscured</a> in the debate about how to count deaths attributed to Maria. They are dying, along with patients dependent on oxygen, and refrigerated insulin. Along with a whole family who died of leptospirosis from drinking river water.</p><p style="">The governor says that 95 percent of power will be restored to the island by Christmas. Really? Every single telephone pole is down. Every. One. A transformer blocks the entrance to my old neighborhood; my neighbors drive around it cautiously. People are propping up sagging power lines with stray tree branches. And that's here, in Mayagüez, where we did not get hit very badly, comparatively.</p><p style="">I can't watch the U.S. news. I physically can't—I have no way to—but even as Internet is slowly returning to work this week, I couldn't bring myself to. Puerto Rico is living through a catastrophe, and the federal government is not exactly showing compassion.</p><p style="">Maria has laid bare an old and enduring chasm between the San Juan metro area and everyone else. They call us "la isla," as if we don't also live on the same island as they do. So when San Juan quickly recovered, as all provisions and supplies were funneled to its ports—while the governor called meetings of all the town mayors, making the only leaders helping western Puerto Rico waste the day traveling for hours to San Juan—the image sent by the Puerto Rican central government to everyone else is that since San Juan is OK, all of Puerto Rico is OK.</p><p style="">But we are not OK. There are still over 150 people from rural towns unaccounted for. Almost everyone is without power, even if the water plants are slowly coming online (powered by diesel generators). As we are able to be more mobile, we hear more stories. One of my dearest friends spent 18 hours of the storm floating on an air mattress inside of her living room in five feet of water, before being rescued by good Samaritans on kayaks (<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-survived-hurricane-maria-thanks-to-the-kindness-of-strangers_us_59d64916e4b0380b6c9ab345?trn" target="_blank">read her story here</a>). My husband's secretary lost everything as the river and ocean united to flood her home. She found fish in her house. My building's janitor described how the flood waters converted his home into a blender, moving furniture from one room to another. "But I'm not throwing anything away, I'm just drying it out," he says. "Because I don't know what <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fema">FEMA</a> is going to give us."</p><p style="">We have to find a way to feel stable in instability. The cell signal comes and goes. The power goes out randomly, darkening all the traffic lights during rush hour. The water is unpredictable. The gas station might have gas, it might not.</p><p style="">The fact that within all of this, the only way to apply for FEMA assistance is by phone or Internet is like a sick joke. The people who really need help in Puerto Rico didn't have Internet or stable phone lines before Maria. And anyway, no one has power. The power lines are on the ground.</p><p style="">To sum up, this experience has made me believe in the power of local governments, and of neighbors helping neighbors. The Puerto Rican government has forgotten us. The U.S. government has forgotten us, or never cared to begin with. It is only at the micro level that we are seeing real help get to people.</p><p style="">If you are looking for a way to help, the best thing that you can do, in my opinion, is to give a cash donation via Paypal to a local organization offering direct help to people who need it. Here is one such group in my community: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/brigadasolidariaoeste/" target="_blank">Brigada Solidaria del Oeste</a>. You can make a donation via PayPal at <a href="mailto:iser@isercaribe.org" target="_blank">iser@isercaribe.org</a> (please specify that your donation is for Brigada Solidaria del Oeste).</p><p style="">I'm also holding my own fundraiser by opening a special session of my online course, The <a href="https://www.cathymazak.com/writingroadmap/" target="_blank">Academic Woman's Writing Roadmap</a>. For each enrollment I'll donate $50 to direct, local, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes">hurricane</a> relief in the Mayagüez area.</p><p style=""><em>Cathy Mazak is a tenured professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez and an academic coach at </em><em><a href="https://www.cathymazak.com/" target="_blank">https://www.cathymazak.com</a></em></p><p style=""><em>This post was <a href="https://www.cathymazak.com/help-hurricane-maria-victims/" target="_blank">originally published</a></em><em> on Oct. 18, 2017.</em><br></p>
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FEMA Chief Says 'We Filtered Out' San Juan Mayor After She Pleads 'We Need Water!'
09 October 2017
Climate
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long
The administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) dismissed the mayor of San Juan's vocal criticism of the Trump administration's Hurricane Maria relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
<p style="">
"We filtered out the mayor a long time ago," FEMA administrator Brock Long said in an interview with ABC's
This Week on Sunday.
</p><p>
"We don't have time for the political noise," he continued. "The bottom line is that we are making progress every day in conjunction with the governor."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="300bc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ZL25XU1576662862"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="917014936974385153" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">.@FEMA_Brock responds to San Juan mayor: "We filtered out the mayor a long time ago. We don’t have time for the pol… https://t.co/pS0g2t0cab</div> — This Week (@This Week)<a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/statuses/917014936974385153">1507468372.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p style="">
<span></span>Long's comment was in regard to Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz's tweet alleging that FEMA did not respond to a request for support after a hospital in San Juan lost power and patients needed to be transferred out.
</p><p>
Cruz also
<a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/status/916916509590589441" target="_blank">tweeted</a> over the weekend, "WE NEED WATER!" <a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/status/916926079029399552" target="_blank">and</a> "there is no help in the horizon."
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</p><div id="70456" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="EIJV6L1576662862"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="916923248285310976" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@DavidBegnaud The Hospital had requested support from FEMA and no response. Oh sorry they are collecting data...</div> — Carmen Yulín Cruz (@Carmen Yulín Cruz)<a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/statuses/916923248285310976">1507446512.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
"In regards outages and the hospitals, we've built an entire 9-1-1 system," Long insisted during his interview. "We monitor the hospital system daily. So if there is a power failure at a hospital … we're actually life-lighting the ICU patients out of those hospitals."
</p><p>
"But as far as the political noise, we filter that out, keep our heads down, and continue to make progress in restoring essential functions in Puerto Rico."
</p><p>
Several weeks after the Sept. 20 Category 4 storm devastated the U.S. territory, only 11.7 percent of the island's electricity consumers have power, and 56.8 percent of Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority customers have potable water, according to FEMA's
<a href="https://www.fema.gov/hurricane-maria" target="_blank">website</a> tracking the federal response to Hurricane Maria.
</p><p>FEMA was under
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fema-puerto-rico-2493700609.html">scrutiny</a> last week for removing stats about Puerto Rico's electricity and water access from the website. That information returned by Friday afternoon.
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</p><div id="4672d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="WW7HC51576662862"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="916325710557532161" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#FEMA Scrubs Data About Puerto Rico's Lack of Water and Electricity https://t.co/ebFaKfpk3g @billmckibben @greenpeaceusa @YEARSofLIVING</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/916325710557532161">1507304048.0</a></blockquote></div>
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