Relief for Puerto Rico Takes Off From Philly

Puerto Ricans on the island cannot vote in federal elections, but as US citizens, they can vote if they move to the mainland.

“I have a lot of friends there, the rest of my family is over there too, it’s been insane and devastating”, Katy Benoit of Philadelphia said before she boarded.

The announcement, posted to the airport’s Facebook page, comes as the airport continues to offer an extremely limited commercial schedule in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which ravaged Puerto Rico last week, knocking out power to the entire island. The NYPA workers will coordinate with the Corps and the local power company, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). “There are places that are open and are selling food but we just can’t get to them because we don’t have the gas in the vehicle we’re using”. “The lack of gas is now also causing major problems as even the hospitals are now close to depleting the only thing keeping the generators running”.

By Friday, Crowley projects to have 4,100 commercial loads on its terminal ready for pickup containing a variety of needed products, including food, beverages, construction materials, clothing and much more. “This hurricane was catastrophic”.

FEMA did not respond to a request for comment about sending aid directly to Aguadilla.

At least one foreign tanker that left Louisiana last week took advantage of the existing waiver to help Maria victims in Puerto Rico, according to shipping and chartering data compiled by Bloomberg.

While the first commercial flight following the storm touched down at the airport last Friday, in an update on the airport’s Facebook page officials report that most flights remain cancelled, there are no global flights, and the airport is operating only 12 commercial flights per day. Water, batteries and other essentials are being supplied through the company’s Orlando distribution center, and some prescription medications are being replenished through its wholesaler on the island.

BURNETT: He says they just want to go to a place where there’s light, showers and air conditioning. It’s not possible to pick up the supplies and move it forward. Residents of Puerto Rico are USA passport-holders, but many regulations apply to the island that don’t apply to the rest of the country.

But listen, we’re not going to be able to move as fast as everybody would like us, or as I would like.

Michael Brown, who served as the head of FEMA before he was terminated during the botched response to Hurricane Katrina, spoke on CNN Thursday morning about the need for personnel to distribute goods. “Why it’s taking so long for Congress to act right now?”

“Fuel distribution is slowly starting to flow”.

There are almost 50 tons of provisions, including food, water and generators, collected by United, the Puerto Rican Agenda and New Life Church.

While the severity of the storm combined with Puerto Rico’s aged, fragile infrastructure are part of what led to the especially challenging recovery effort, critics have said President Trump’s lackluster and delayed responses to the disaster have led to a slow mobilization of federal resources which could have avoided the logjam in San Juan’s ports. “And that delays the process a bit”. As the island nation is a territory of the USA, those suffering are actually Americans and they hope President Trump will use the power and resources of the country to help them.