Author: Danica Coto
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Officials: Nearly half of Puerto Rico clients still without power three months after hurricane
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico authorities said Friday that nearly half of power customers in the U.S. territory still lack electricity more than three months after Hurricane Maria. Officials said 55 percent of the nearly 1.5 million customers have power, marking the first time the government has provided that statistic since the Category…
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Puerto Rico gov seeks to cancel $300M Whitefish contract
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s governor on Sunday demanded that the board of the island’s power company cancel the $300M contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings amid increased scrutiny of the Montana company’s role in Hurricane Maria recovery efforts. The announcement by Gov. Ricardo Rossello comes as federal legislators seek to investigate the contract…
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Many Puerto Ricans angry over Trump’s comments on island
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Outside of official events, many Puerto Ricans say they won’t be welcoming President Donald Trump with open arms during his visit to the storm-wracked island on Tuesday. People in the U.S. territory were angry or dismissive Monday when asked about Trump’s description of some Puerto Ricans who have criticized the…
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Scope of Puerto Rico damage so wide that US aid hard to see
MONTEBELLO, Puerto Rico — Relatives helped Maribel Valentin Espino find shelter when Hurricane Maria roared through her community in northern Puerto Rico. Neighbors formed volunteer brigades to cut fallen trees and clear twisty mountain roads after the storm had passed. Now, friends and a local cattle ranch provide the water they need to survive in…
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Puerto Ricans hunt for precious Wi-Fi and cell signals
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Margarita Aponte and her relatives cleared the road in front of her house with two oxen Sunday, then drove an hour from her devastated hometown in central Puerto Rico to the old telegraph building in the capital of San Juan. There, thousands of Puerto Ricans gathered for a chance at…
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Official: Hurricane Maria set Puerto Rico back decades
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress said Sunday that Hurricane Maria’s destruction has set the island back decades, even as authorities worked to assess the extent of the damage. “The devastation in Puerto Rico has set us back nearly 20 to 30 years,” said Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner…
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Powerless Puerto Rico’s storm crisis deepens with dam threat
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rican officials could not communicate with more than half the towns in the U.S. territory as they rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of people downstream of a failing dam and the massive scale of the disaster wrought by Hurricane Maria started to become clear. Authorities launched an evacuation…
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Powerless: Puerto Rico faces weeks without electricity after Hurricane Maria
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The sky was darkening Thursday afternoon as 10-year-old Sarah Jimenez laid out three plastic buckets on her grandmother’s patio in hopes of capturing rainwater. “We can use it to at least flush the toilets,” she told her grandmother. A day after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, flooding towns, crushing homes…
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Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico after slamming Dominica
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit Puerto Rico pummeled the island Wednesday as officials warned it would decimate the power company’s crumbling infrastructure and force the government to rebuild dozens of communities. Maria made landfall early Wednesday in the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa as a Category 4…
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Maria destroys homes, triggers flooding in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years destroyed hundreds of homes, knocked out power across the entire island and turned some streets into raging rivers Wednesday in an onslaught that could plunge the U.S. territory deeper into financial crisis. Leaving at least nine people dead…