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Puerto Rico faces more floods after Maria 'obliteration'
By Hector RETAMAL and Edgardo RODRIGUEZ
San Juan (AFP) Sept 22, 2017


Puerto Rico, the United States' Caribbean island
San Juan (AFP) Sept 21, 2017 - Puerto Rico is the latest Caribbean island to be hit by Hurricane Maria, with the situation there being officially declared a disaster.

Here are some things to know about the US territory:

- A part of the United States -

The former Spanish colony was annexed by the United States after the 1898 Spanish-American War.

Its people have had US nationality since 1917 but are not able to vote in US presidential elections, although they can be called up to serve in the US army.

Puerto Rico also elects one non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives.

The closest US mainland city is Miami, about 1,660 kilometres (1,030 miles) to the northwest.

- With its own government -

The territory retains a proud cultural identity and has had its own government and constitution since 1952, when it adopted the status of a "free associated state" of the United States.

It also has its own flag and national anthem.

Two parties have alternated in power since the 1950s -- current governor Ricardo Rossello's New Progressive Party and the opposition Popular Democratic Party -- each blaming the other for the island's dire financial woes.

- Economic downturn -

The 9,000-square-kilometer (3,475-square-mile) island has been locked in recession for more than a decade.

Unemployment hovers around 12 percent, more than double that for the United States as a whole, with the poverty level at around 46 percent.

The lack of work and the recession have seen Puerto Ricans leaving the island in droves. The population has fallen from 3.8 million in 2006 to well under 3.5 million in 2016, according to World Bank figures.

There are some hopes for the growth of tourism: Puerto Rico hosted 1.7 million tourists in 2015, and tourism accounts for six percent of its total GDP, according to the US Senate Finance Committee.

The pop hit "Despacito" by Puerto Rican artists is the most watched video on YouTube and has put the part of the capital San Juan where it was filmed on the tourist trail.

- Basically bankrupt -

Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy in early May, unable to repay its creditors and crushed under a $70 billion (58 billion euros) debt.

In July 2016 then president Barack Obama signed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which establishes a financial control board to restore fiscal discipline on the island. It also blocks potential litigation between the island and its creditors.

Puerto Rico grappled with the prospect of more flooding on top of an island-wide power outage following Hurricane Maria as the death toll from the powerful storm hit 21, most of them on the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica.

President Donald Trump declared Puerto Rico a disaster zone and said Maria had "obliterated" the US territory of 3.4 million people.

Governor Ricardo Rossello called Maria the most devastating storm in a century and said the island suffered a total breakdown of its electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.

Rossello warned that expected heavy rainfall over the next few days could cause deadly flooding and mudslides.

"The biggest concern is the amount of rain and flooding, particularly in the west," Rossello told WAPA radio. "We expect up to 25 inches (63 centimeters) from the tail of the hurricane."

The storm has been blamed for at least 21 deaths, including 15 in Dominica, two in Guadeloupe and one in northern Puerto Rico's Bayamon district, where a man was struck by a board he had used to cover his windows.

In Haiti, three deaths were blamed on the storm: a drowning and two people struck by lightning.

"Puerto Rico is absolutely obliterated," Trump told reporters Thursday after declaring the island a disaster area in a move that will free up emergency relief funding.

"Puerto Rico is in a very, very, very tough shape," he said.

Though the storm had moved back out to sea, authorities declared a flash flood warning for all of Puerto Rico as the torrential rains continued to lash the island.

"If possible, move to higher ground NOW!" the National Weather Service station in San Juan said in a tweet, calling the flooding "catastrophic."

The rain had turned some roads in the US territory into muddy brown rivers, impassable to all but the largest of vehicles.

Toppled trees, street signs and power cables were strewn across roads that were also littered with debris.

Although Maria had passed over Puerto Rico and lost some of its power, it was still packing winds gusting at up to 125 miles per hour (210 kilometers per hour).

As of Thursday evening it was moving as a Category 3 hurricane offshore along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.

It is forecast to head near or just east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas Thursday night and on Friday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

In the Dominican Republic, rains from Maria triggered flooding as rivers overflowed their banks. Fierce winds downed trees and electrical pylons, and 140,000 people were left without power, the government said. Some 17,000 have been evacuated from their homes.

- 'Totally destroyed' -

Ricardo Ramos, who heads Puerto Rico's electricity board, said it could take months before power is fully restored on the island.

"The system... has been totally destroyed," he said of the electricity grid.

While the island had suffered major blackouts from previous hurricanes, Ramos said the impact would be felt much more keenly this time.

"I guess it's a good time for dads to buy a glove and ball and change the way you entertain your children and the way you are going to go to school and the way you are going to cook for gas stoves other than electric," Ramos told CNN.

In San Juan, where tens of thousands rode out the storm in shelters or else hunkered down in their homes, residents told of their terrifying ordeal.

"This was absolutely the worst experience we've had with a hurricane," Kim Neis, an American who has lived on the island for 30 years, told AFP.

"None of the others were anything like as intense as this."

Governor Rossello imposed a 6 pm to 6 am curfew until Saturday.

There were reports of looting and authorities said 10 people had been arrested.

Maria has already torn through several Caribbean islands, claiming the highest toll on Dominica, which remains largely cut off from the outside world.

"So far, we would have buried in excess of 15 people," Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said on television.

"If there (are) no other fatalities, it is a miracle," Skerrit said.

"It has been brutal. I saw almost complete devastation," said Skerrit, who has made several flights over the territory of some 72,000 people.

"We have no water, no electricity, very limited communications," he said.

"It is worse than a war zone," said Skerrit, who himself had to be rescued during the hurricane, which blew the roof off his residence.

burs-co/cl/dw/jah

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SHAKE AND BLOW
'Storm of the century' Maria pummels Puerto Rico
San Juan (AFP) Sept 21, 2017
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico on Wednesday and left the entire island without power, bringing deadly winds and pounding rain that sent thousands scurrying to shelters. Maria slammed into Puerto Rico's southeast coast at daybreak before churning across the US territory which is home to 3.4 million people. The storm was blamed for 10 deaths in the Caribbean, including a man in nor ... read more

Related Links
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