TOPLINE
With hurricane season approaching, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have been waiting for a federally funded program to help rebuild homes that were damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 — meanwhile the U.S. territory suffers from a massive drought and widespread unemployment.
A protester holds a Puerto Rican flag during a demonstration after a warehouse full of relief ... [+]
KEY FACTS
When Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico in September 2017, demolishing the island’s infrastructure and crippling its electricity grid, over 780,000 homes were damaged, forcing some residents to live in roofless houses covered with blue tarps.
While some minor federally funded repairs took place in 2018, the first major rebuilding effort, known as R3, has yet to complete a single repair, despite federal funding having been released to local officials nearly a year-and-a-half ago.
On June 29, an island-wide drought forced Gov. Wanda Vázquez to declare a state of emergency — since July 2 water rationing measures have left 140,000 people without running water for 24 hours every other day.
Some 50 out of 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico are affected by the drought, which followed a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that shook the island in January.
Puerto Rico has the highest poverty rate in the U.S., 43.1%, and at least 300,000 Puerto Ricans have filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Out of a population of 3.2 million, there have been nearly 13,500 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 188 deaths on the island.
big number
$1 billion. That’s how much damage Hurricane Maria is estimated to have caused in the eight hours it spent over the island.
key background
Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez is the target of an in-depth corruption probe due to allegations of mismanagement of supplies meant to help Puerto Rico rebound from the January earthquake. Her predecessor, Ricardo Rosello, resigned in 2019 amid massive public demonstrations sparked by years of financial mismanagement, poor government response to Hurricane Maria and a leaked chat from a private messaging app in which he and other government officials crudely mocked political adversaries and revealed potential crimes.
further reading
Thousands in Puerto Rico still without housing since Maria (Associated Press)
Worsening Drought forces state of emergency in Puerto Rico (Associated Press)
Puerto Rican Governor, others face formal corruption charge (Associated Press)
Pandemic Plunges Puerto Rico Into Yet Another Dire Emergency (New York Times)
Ricardo Rosselló, Puerto Rico’s Governor, Resigns After Protests (New York Times)
