Puerto Rico

This can't be much fun for Wreybies, or anybody else.

 

I got a brainstorm last night that this might be a good time for solar panels in PR, started researching, and ended up on a forum where the contributors were saying yeah, they'd love to, but the paperwork to connect to the grid takes six months to process and if you want to go off-grid there are a lot of byzantine regulations and permissions to go through as well. So I wonder how much of that six-months-to-restore-power has to do with the the usual speed things are done at, given the bureaucracy.

I also wonder if this emergency will give an incentive for the friendly neighborhood bureaucrats to develop some efficiency. I hope so.

 

Considering they are just recovering from Irma, it wouldn't surprise me if some religious sorts think this is God's idea of a sick joke.

 

I've been reading a few things about how unprepared the island is due to the recent debt crisis. The territorial government could only afford to put aside $20 million for disaster preparedness, and the electrical utility has cut way back on maintenance, including apparently even failing to cut down trees near power lines.

 

Oh, yeah, I remember the Great Storm back in 1987. Well, I don't recall it from first hand, but I saw enough of the remaining damage during my months in the UK a year later.

Puerto Rico, being an even smaller island, is facing even greater difficulties. I wonder if they could use a few or a hundred garbage scows, just to haul off the debris. Makes me wish I had some at my command.

 

I'm speechless... just utterly speechless...

 

Shit. Now this dam in the western part of the island is going to burst. Trying to evacuate people when there is no power and no communication is just a horrendous job. Fingers crossed the dam holds. Or holds long enough to get people out of its path.

 

I've been watching footage of the hurricane itself and the aftermath. It's just shocking devastation. It would be bad enough if it was just Houston, or just Dominica or just Puerto Rico or just one place at all. But all these places at once? How in hell do you begin to sort this out? According to reports, Puerto Rico had no money for infrastructure to begin with, and was in the process of negotiating bankruptcy for its government before this happened. Now what. So many lives and livelihoods and homes utterly destroyed so quickly.

Tell you what, though. It certainly puts a lot of petty crap into perspective, doesn't it?

 

Oh, yes, help out of Washington DC goes without saying. That's why the island (and its various communities) was declared a disaster area on the 21st, to allow federal money to go for recovery. The first thing will be to get communications restored, or how can people apply?

I'm seeing that the state of New York in particular is sending experts and aid, there being close ties between the state and the territory.

Damn. The faster, the better.

 

If he has another dam failure, it may end up on his carpet. Ok, I am heading for the door.

 

This from two days ago:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/24/553373996/cut-off-from-the-world-puerto-ricans-search-for-a-ghost-of-a-signal

Just saw a notification on his Facebook page (from somebody else) who said that Wreybies's neighbour's grandson reported 'they are fine and their house is fine as well.' They, presumably meaning Wreybies, his hubby, and maybe some relatives as well? Anyway, although sketchy, that's good news indeed.

 

I believe the report came from possibly his sister? So she may have been reporting on parents, etc. However, she did post it on Wrey's status page. As I said, it's not entirely clear what she meant, but here's hoping.

Just saw this interview with the mayor of San Juan. Scary and hopeful at the same time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/local/weather/san-juan-mayor-there-is-horror-in-the-streets/2017/09/23/83469f26-a0a0-11e7-b2a7-bc70b6f98089_video.html?utm_term=.58648def3169

 

Soo... we might not be hearing from poor Wrey for a while...

It's good he's all right (I hope he is), but I feel bad for his country and the people living there...

 

I don't know how I missed this thread! I've been watching the devastation in shock like most other people and just...I don't know what to do or think or say. Everything just seems so awful and hopeless lately.

 

Photos: what Puerto Rico’s unfolding humanitarian disaster looks like.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-maria-puertorico-shipping/u-s-denies-request-for-puerto-rico-shipping-waiver-idUSKCN1C12UI?il=0

This just got ugly.

 

I'm hoping some private citizens and/or charities will be able to help out, to either fly things in or get there by boat.

My niece and her friend are heading to Cuba tomorrow, and have arranged with the airline that's taking them to allow them lots of extra baggage weight so they can take relief supplies. They've been collecting over the counter medicines, food items, personal hygiene items, etc, and have gathered quite a haul. The trip to Cuba was one they'd planned months ago. It's just the circumstances have changed a lot. She's a midwife, so she'll be volunteering to help in that capacity as well, while she's there. And another group of her friends and colleagues are going out in another week or so, with another haul of supplies.

I'm hoping that some people can do the same thing for Puerto Rico. It's just that so many places need this kind of attention just now. Infrastructure repair is vital. People are going to die pretty soon, if power doesn't go on. People who are ill and require medication that needs to be refrigerated ...diabetics, for a start.

Hard to know where to begin.

 

I just hope there'll be enough. From what I've heard, 80% of Puerto Rico is without power and it could take months, if not years to get it back online.

It seems Trump has plans to visit Puerto Rico soon -- there's not much hope I have that he won't make it about him. That said, if he can actually do something to help the people recover, then that'll be good.

 

^ It's telling, Moosie, that it took him a week after the storm wrecked Puerto Rico to actually focus on that island. Apparently a bunch of burly NFL guys trumped a literal national environmental disaster.