Over 3 million residents of Puerto Rico are without power after Hurricane Maria devastated the island Wednesday morning with Category 4 winds as high as 155 mph and officials have warned that power may not be restored for months.
The powerful winds took out trees, ripped off roofs, and turned roads into free flowing rivers, with President Trump noting that the destruction was so bad it “absolutely obliterated” the island. Unbelievably, weather forecasts have the island once against preparing for even more rain and flash flooding.
According to The Daily Mail, the full extent of the damage still remains unclear as first responders haven’t even been able to make communication with key parts of the island that were cut off by the storm. The devastation is horrifying.
Maria moved north after pummeling the island through Wednesday night- but flooding continued through Thursday afternoon, leaving many San Juan streets looking like small rivers.
The Category 4 hurricane had sustained winds of 155mph through wednesday – and was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years. So far at least 19 people have been killed throughout the Caribbean – one on the US territory.
Mayor of the capital Carmen Yulin Cruz said the devastation is like nothing she has ever seen, telling MSNBC ‘The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there.’
Authorities have imposed a strict curfew while warning that it will most likely take months before any sort of recovery actually begins to happen.
Police were on the streets to warn people they must respect a 6pm to 6am curfew imposed by the governor to ensure everyone’s safety. People resorted to rafts and kayaks to get around because flooding made many roads remained impassable.
‘Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,’ Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, told The Associated Press.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has called Maria ‘the most devastating storm of the century.’
The U.S. territory’s sole representative in Congress told CNBC in a telephone interview from the island that it was going to take a “titanic effort” to recover, especially considering how cash-strapped Puerto Rico already is.
“This is not the same island, ” Republican congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon told the networks “Squawk Box” show. “There are no trees. There are no palm trees.”
“Most of the houses lost part of the windows and doors,” she continued. “People with wooden houses, of course, didn’t resist it, this type of environment like never before.”
Although most of the scenes coming from the island are ones of sheer devastation, residents of San Juan began the long process of “figuring it out” Thursday.
The Miami Herald reported:
Left to fend for themselves a day after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico and forced them into a primitive existence, San Juaneros took to the streets Thursday to do what they say Caribbean people do best: Resolver. Figure it out.
No electricity? A mustachioed man in a white undershirt played traffic cop at a Santurce intersection. No ambulances? A daughter borrowed her brother’s SUV to race her frail mother from the La Perla neighborhood to a hospital. No debris removal? A physician and two neighbors borrowed garden tools to clear main Condado thoroughfares on their own.
With the enormity of Maria’s destruction still unknown even to the overwhelmed Puerto Rican government, the capital’s storm-dazed residents ventured outside Thursday, clogging roadways while trying to bring some semblance of order to their bruised city.
It is clear at this point that Puerto Rico is completely screwed and the fact that they may be without power for months could not only make things extremely difficult, it could also cause major water issues as the pumps are simply unable to operate without power.
As Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon stunningly noted, “This is not the same island”.
Better them than me.
That’s a jerk off comment.
Puerto Rico is a Democrats Dream. Loaded Down with massive Debt obligations and who lives off of welfare from US Tax Payers. How about all of you Ricans start owning your own shit?
On May 3 2017 Puerto Rick Filed a form of bankruptcy. $123 Billion, which is almost 7 times the debt of Detroit. Its that bad in Puerto Rico.
May 3rd 2017 NYT- With its creditors at its heels and its coffers depleted, Puerto Rico sought what is essentially bankruptcy relief in federal court on Wednesday May 3rd, the first time in history that an American state or territory had taken the extraordinary measure.
The action sent Puerto Rico, whose approximately $123 billion in debt and pension obligations far exceeds the $18 billion bankruptcy filed by Detroit in 2013, to uncharted ground.
While the court proceedings could eventually make the island solvent for the first time in decades, the more immediate repercussions will likely be grim: Government workers will forgo pension money, public health and infrastructure projects will go wanting, and the “brain drain” the island has been suffering as professionals move to the mainland could intensify.
Full article: ht tps://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt.html
So CSS has a few Questions. How many of these Puerto Ricans will migrate to Miami FL, because of this disaster? Zero I hope. Lots of criminals in Puerto Rico. Democrats love this BS. And the debt? How much disaster relief will they be getting at US Tax Payers expense? WTF? When places like Puerto Rico are mismanaged, they need to get Cut off not rewarded. This Reward for Failure program is a Democrats dream. Now a disaster hits and they are deep in debt. WTF? We need to find better countries to Team up with, not Puerto Rico. Cut the cord and let them drift away. Adios Mfers! Yeah sure after lending some humanitarian assistance.
Need Power Puerto Rico? Set up your own Off the Grid Solar Electric system and buy some solar panels, batteries and a few electronics and shut the F- up. Own your own power.
The Humanitary issue, sure it sucks. Everything sucks, I am flooding right now here in FL. 6 inches of rain in my driveway and the flooding has not crested yet. I am on an inland island and did got my vehicle out this AM to higher ground, and was a glad I did, because the drive out is sand and dirt and getting pretty mushy. I have not asked the Government for anything. F- Them and go away. Get prepared to Own it.
I will deal with my own issues and take responsibility for myself. I have wading boots and a pistol if I need to put a cap in a gator’s head if he looks threatening. Same with snakes, I have a machete. Do you? Lots of good coming out of this already. Stand up and be a man and own it. You live there in Puerto Rico? Own it. If I need to, I can kayak out of here. I live on the canals, and they too are my other escape routes out. Go with nature and own it. All that flooding, look how much new water life is coming in with the floods. Great fishing this next summer. Own it!! I can put my BOB in a water proof black construction trash bag, load it up on the kayak, and paddle out if I have to. My neighbors have boats tied up to their decks. Hell yeah!! Own it!! There will always be loser who live off of charity because they fail to own it. Own it and grow up.
BINGO!
Yeeehaawww! You can shoot a snake!! I bet you can squeal like a pig too!
Could not have said it better!
Wow. Way to go for human compassion.
*sarcasm sign*
Be careful, because with the way this world is going it will be you soon enough. I sincerely hope that someone shows you more compassion than you have shown.
Personally, I’d just say for all of us to say a couple of words to big power that be to give all those in Puerto Rico and the other devastated places/islands and cities … strength, a reason to hope and his blessings.
just have someone stand on the street corner with a flashlight. preferably a whore
My assistant is from PR, and if I could go there, we would in a heartbeat. I know how to work well without modern conveniences. We both speak Spanish. Will be praying for them. That’s a tough row to hoe.
Flunk Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, they are viscous and violent and dirty!
A few Prepper tips,
*When there is no electricity, or when rustic camping, it is good to get your sleeping quarters set up in the day light, so all you need to do is crawl in when it gets dark. Try setting up sleeping quarters in the dark. You will need good sleep at night, to deal with the daily stresses.
*Here in FL with the inland Floods, there are a lot of ants, bugs and insects also looking for the higher ground, so spray good insect killer in and by all doors and window openings of your living space to keep the critters out. The Mosquitos will get ya too, so insect repellent and lots of that, for others to avoid bites. Also get yards of mosquito netting to put up over your doors. Let the cool air pass in, but keep the bugs out. Huge asset in No Power SHTF.
I also have a lot of canned food I can open up and eat, or heat up on propane camp stove. Easy and it also heats up my morning coffee in a steam kettle, bring to boil and pour hot water over coffee through a filter. Get a lot of spare paper coffee filters, which also can be adapted with a plastic funnel to be a pre filter rain water catch for purification.
*Get a bunch of can openers. Get the Stainless P-51 Military style Can Opener, Buy a dozen, I keep one on my key chain. The P 51 is bigger than the P-39 opener, which is cheaper and will rust. I hate to dig for a can opener. Have a complete eating kit for every person in your group and make them responsible for it. And a Sawyer water filter bottle, in your BOB, plus may other filters. Clean drinking water? Priceless. Boil enough hot water for coffee and doing dishes. Need to keep everything sanitary.
*Hot water can also be used for sponge bathing, shower, if there is no running water. So get lots of hand wash clothes and soap for the hot water to stay clean.
Hygiene: Shave and keep all your hair short. Less hair tentacles to catch and trap dirt and fungus in grid down. Learn how to take bottled water showers. Take off a water bottle cap, punch 3 small pin holes in the cap with a hammer and nail, screw it back on the bottle and squeeze, Instant shower. Want more of a shower punch 4 holes in the bottle., less 2 or 1. You can take an entire shower with one 16 Oz bottle of water if you try.. Practice in your shower at home. Save the caps with the holes in them, and use them over and over, A good instant shower tool to keep in your BOB kit.
*This are all simple things, but you need to quickly adapt, learn it now as I have used many of these ideas living 31 months off the Grid. 6 months with no electric. When it gets dark, you go to bed, and up when the bird start chirping, about a half hour before light you get up. Go with nature. Been doing it for millions of years.
*A bright spot here tonight, After the hurricane many animals are displaced, and now after nearly 2 weeks, a doe and fawn may have returned back here again to take p residency, as I saw them feeding. Welcome back home!! Its dry here by my buildings, and I put out corn for them nightly. They love it. A nice wild life show every day.
I’m with ya bro.. Here in central Fl.
Thanks Crack. Very Helpful.
A simple comment, Puerto Ricco is a known hurricane target. Who”d a thought!
Do we stop the world for the ignorant few who abandon God for a point!
Half of that islands people live in the US already, bring in the other half and make them whole. Ca ching business smiling. The melting pot gets stirred.
When I was on Guam
when the same thing happened
to us, Typhoon Pameula.
No electricity, no running water.
I lived on “C” rations for months.
No green trees as all the stuff
was blown away.
I was Air Force and in the airlift support
squadron( although I also did work on the bomber
side of base). I saw what the US
can do. C5’s full of diapers, food, water
generators, and all sorts of stuff.
24/7 air operations to help civilians
and military bases recover.
Chow halls were destroyed and our
barracks had been flooded.
I basically lived on the
flight line for weeks.
I really appreciate what Puerto Rico
has gone through and anyone that
has gone through a hurricane.
It sucks!
I’m sure they will
put it all back together.
Hopefully the folks in Puerto Rico view all those fallen trees as I do, as fuel. Because unless the government is going to give away free gasoline and propane to victims, they may be forced to burn wood and coal for fuel for some time. If the government publicly states that recovery is months away, substitute year(s) instead of months and that will be a more accurate recovery estimate.
With all that organic compost ready material laying around on Puerto Rico now just waiting to be chipped and mulched-I could have that entire tropical island growing healthy organic SUSTAINABLE REAL FOOD and medicine in less than a few months, and they would have no need for any of that toxic GMO and chemical filled poisonous horror they will receive in FAKE FOOD Aid from the genocidal United States Corporation Government.
No kidding it only got hit with a Cat 4. Did someone think it would be any different?
Sgt.
I have a friend that lives in PR. He has a 500 gallon tank of potable water, diesel generator with 50 gallons of diesel and a lot of food storage. I doubt his neighbors are as prepared as he is.
I think he will have a hard time after about three days if he is the only one in the area with power, water and food.
It may take up to 6 months to restore the electrical grid. I am already thinking that diabetics that need to have insulin refrigerated, people on oxygen generators, and those on mandatory meds are going to have a rough go, especially those on mental health meds. It is almost as bad as an EMP or total grid down, worse if their house has no roof.
I think if I lived in a Hurricane prone area, I would live in a ferro cement dome house on a hill well above seal level.
Most hurricane prone areas don’t have hills. Eastern NC gets hit more than any other place. On a list of places that get hit the most (since 1861), Cape Hatteras is #1, Morehead City is #2, and Wilmington is #5. My closest town, Elizabeth City, is #37. None of these places have hills to build on.
The closest hill of any size is Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Trashmore_Park
My house is fast approaching 100 years old and has seen a lot of hurricanes. I think I’ll stay here.
I think we are safe to. We live at 6,300 feet on the east side of the Sierras.
You can never kill enough cans
San Juan Puerto Rico was a sh!thole anyway.
I was there a few years ago and there were two policemen on every single street corner in the downtown district.
Crime is that much of a problem there.
What would posess a person to want to live in hurricane alley so isolated and vulnerable. It is sad….but it is their choice. Hopefully there aren’t many children there.
How many hurricanes do these people have go through to learn it isn’t safe. How many are there to hide from the authorities for crimes commited? I’ve heard there are some pretty shady people there.
That is sad too.
Both parties will be doing something. They will be trolling for votes for the next election….they are after all US citizens.
Unlike the US mainland that can pull utility repair resources from a vast distance by road PR is an island. Flying in skilled linemen is useless without lift trucks, tools and the like. Just getting the repair crews there with material will be a great task in itself. PR in darkness? No offense intended but is the place really safe with good lighting?
Efrain Rodriguez has some bad news coming for PR.
Hurricane Maria was only a walk in the park.
But, for MSM he is a fraude…, which means, he is genuine.
So there are still at least 3 million aszholes left in that shytehole? Where’s the justice? When will they come out with cat 7 storms. I thought there was progress.
There as actually an article saying how the SHTF in Puerto Rico. It actually finally happened.
Even before the hurricane, the place was a sh*t hole — broke, bankrupt, a completely corrupt and criminal government, a decayed and dysfunctional infrastructure, its citizens fleeing the country. Dare I need to say more?
This article speculated that Puerto Rico was going to stay just the way it is, because the island had already been destroyed, even before the hurricane showed up, and who would invest in a place like that?
All-in-all, the article could have been written about the U.S. much of Europe, or Canada, or England, or Mexico (certainly Mexico).
Most likely, these places will just bulldoze the rubble into a cute pile, add some doors and windows and say: “See, all better.”
In any event the paradise was long ago bled white out of the islands. St. Croix never really recovered from Hugo. They have all kinds of civil unrest going on against the tourists. Same thing with Haiti. When you have million dollar sailboats washed into downtowns going unclaimed, and all you hear from the professional politicians is how awesome everything can be, you know things are bad.
I look upon the PR disaster as a preview of the US after an EMP attack. Except that the electronics in PR (if they did not get submerged) will still be functional. After an EMP attack most will get fried.
So, folks let’s watch this play out VERY carefully. One poster commented on all the free firewood. One statistic I’d love to know is how many households in PR have a wood stove.
I suspect we will learn some very real world lessons about prepping for a grid down event from watching PR.
I suggest reading the recent post by Dr. Peter Pry at http://www.allnewspipeline.com on the very real EMP threat and how for years the lamestream mass media kept saying NK could never develop a small hydrogen bomb, could not make an ICBM with a workable re-entry vehicle. Not to worry, move along here, nothing to be seen. And now NK is threatening to test a H bomb in the Pacific Ocean. Will the US try to shoot it down? If we try, and we miss, it will result in deep despair and fear here and in East Asia.
“Disaster Preparedness for EMP Attacks and Solar Storms” Dr. Arthur Bradley
“Nuclear War Survival Skills” by Cresson Kearny.
Both must read books about the threats we face. The threat from radioactive fallout and the threat of the grid and electronics being taken down are two very different threats and we are doing our best to prep for both.
I headed over here to say the same thing. It’s very instructional to read the on-the-ground stories about the things people have, what other items they need and generally just how things are playing out.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/puerto-rico-food-shortages-hurricane-maria/2017/09/26/id/815753/
I know a guy on one of my dog breed listservs who was training his dog in IPO with the idea that she might win a title or two, but now he says she’s “truly working,” patrolling the neighborhood with him. They’ve worked 36 hours without sleeping, scaring away looters. She is tireless in standing by his side. Makes you think of all the different scenarios of a true SHTF situation and how we would need to adapt.
Well I am now looking at the Atlantic Satellite loop and see **2 MORE SYSTEMS FORMING** – same track as Maria !!!
ht tp://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/AtlanticSatellite.aspx?animate=true
10% of Puerto Rico was without electricity before the hurricane hit. Poor management is a bitch. In New York and Chicago, Puerto Rican ‘hoods have street gangs and real bad crime. San Juan is 1000 times worse. Good luck to the regular people there.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why people choose to live in hurricane alley that gets wiped out every 10-15 years. Of course, if one is hiding from the law or something it makes sense. Crime there is awful, so go figure. I only feel sorry for the smallest children who have no choices.
Im part of better them than me. Ive got a shitty relative that lived at Cape Coral. And Now everything he has is soaked & damaged. He used to brag about his place and the ocean and gulf ect. Dumbass didn’t evacuate and even his Brand new truck got flooded. Stupid is as Stupid does. And its Stupid to try and reside in flood prone places. And just as stupid to help and give assistance to folks who make poor dumb choice’s. I simply think that helping to rebuild and restore such places that have a history of repeted disasters is enablement. Poor decisions should never be rewarded or enabled. If you can live in someplace and thrive and survive on your own no matter what disaster occurs that’s wonderful. I really approve of Know How and Self Reliance.
The morons in charge of PR are probably really happy they defaulted on 70 billion in debt recently. Now, they will have to give the island away to borrow money. Good job morons!