What's Happening With the Relief Effort in

Puerto Rico?

What is happening in Puerto Rico?

Since the storm made landfall on September 20, Hurricane Maria has
wreaked havoc on the island, causing a level of widespread destruction
and disorganization paralleled by few storms in American history. Almost
two weeks after the storm abated, most of the island’s residents still lack
access to electricity and clean water.

From a meteorological standpoint, Maria was nearly a worst-case scenario

for the territory: The center of a huge, nearly Category 5 hurricane made a
direct hit on Puerto Rico, lashing the island with wind and rain for longer
than 30 hours. “It was as if a 50- to 60-mile-wide tornado raged across
Puerto Rico, like a buzz saw,” Jeff Weber, a meteorologist at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research, has told Vox.

Maria has many elements of a “catastrophic event,” and not just a

disaster, says Tricia Wachtendorf, a professor of sociology at the
University of Delaware who studies disaster relief.

Catastrophic events are rarer than disasters, and they tend to wipe out
infrastructure over a large swath of land. “Most, if not all, of the built
environment is destroyed” in a catastrophe, Wachtendorf told me.

“It’s very difficult to navigate the impact zone—to know which roads are
open, and to know what to detour around. It’s extremely difficult to pre-
position supplies, because if you have any supplies pre-positioned they
might have been destroyed. You have [local] officials that are unable to
take their usual roles on,” she said.

This renders Maria a different class of disaster than Hurricanes Irma and
Harvey, both of which left much of the nearby infrastructure standing. In
both storms, supplies that were positioned inland or in Atlanta were still
available after the storms had passed.
But were the bad effects of Hurricane Maria made worse by a slow federal
response? Democrats and other critics have implicated President Donald
Trump’s dawdling response to the hurricane—he did not hold a Situation
Room meeting on the disaster until six days after landfall—in the low
quality of the relief effort. The president’s tendency to take criticisms of
the effort personally has not seemed to help either.

Are these criticisms fair? And how should we even understand the Puerto
Rico disaster? To help get a handle on the storm, I put together a timeline
of the major events in Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria made
landfall. It follows below, and I’ll keep it updated in the days to come.

I’ll say straight-out: There are few obvious gaps in the federal response in
the timeline. But it does make it clear that the speed and scale of the initial
Maria relief effort pales next to other recent campaigns.

After a magnitude-7 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, President Obama

ordered a massive military and civilian response. As The Washington Post
describes: Eight thousand troops were bound for the island within two
days; 22,000 troops and 33 ships had arrived within two weeks. And five
days after the quake struck, former presidents George W. Bush and Bill
Clinton joined Obama at the White House to announce the Haiti Fund, a
multimillion-dollar philanthropic appeal for the foreign country.

By comparison, only about 7,200 military personnel have made it to

Puerto Rico two weeks after landfall.

And while the five living former presidents added Hurricane Maria to One
America Appeal, their preexisting campaign for hurricane-relief
donations, five days after landfall, they have not visited the White House
or gone on television. President Trump tweeted about One America
Appeal once, on the day that Hurricane Irma made landfall, but that was
well before Hurricane Maria formed.

This speed did not ensure Haiti had a successful recovery, and today the
earthquake-relief effort is considered a failure. But the precedent suggests
that the U.S. military might have responded with greater speed than it did
to Maria. Unlike Haiti, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory; unlike an
earthquake, a hurricane is predictable. The National Weather Service first
warned that Maria could strike the island as a “dangerous major
hurricane” more than three weeks ago.

Likewise, the first public call to mobilize the USNS Comfort, the only U.S.
Navy hospital ship on the East Coast, came from Hillary Clinton on
Sunday, September 24, four days after landfall.

The Comfort was not deployed until Tuesday, September 26, six days after
landfall; did not leave port until Thursday, September 28, more than a
week after landfall; and did not reach Puerto Rico until Tuesday, October
3, 11 days after Maria hit the island. A Pentagon official has told The
Washington Post that the Navy considered sending the Comfort before the
storm but decided Puerto Rican ports could not immediately handle a ship
that large.

Below is a timeline of the events of Hurricane Maria and its aftermath.

Wednesday, September 6

The eye of Hurricane Irma, then a powerful Category 5 storm, skirts north
of San Juan. Puerto Rico experiences a deluge and 100-mile-per-hour
gusts, but it avoids the worst of the storm’s effects.
Irma kills four people. It cuts off power to about two-thirds of the island’s
electricity customers, and about 34 percent of its population loses access
to clean water.

Wednesday, September 13—Seven days before landfall

A trough of low pressure, moving west to east, develops in the tropical

Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center believes it will strengthen in the
days to come, as there’s plenty of ocean heat for the cyclone to suck up,
and little wind to tear it apart.

Saturday, September 16—Four days before landfall

The trough is still in the open ocean, several hundred miles east of the
Carribbean’s Windward Islands. But it has begun to form convective
bands around its center, and its central pressure has continued to fall.

The National Hurricane Center anticipates that it will become some kind
of tropical storm. Starting this season, the NHC is allowed to issue
forecasts for tropical cyclones even if they haven’t yet formed by allotting
them a number and warning of a “potential tropical cyclone.”

At 11 a.m., the center dubs the storm “Potential Tropical Cyclone 15” and
issues its first forecast discussion.

By 5 p.m., the trough has strengthened into a tropical storm, with

estimated 50-mile-per-hour winds.

The National Weather Service names it Tropical Storm Maria. John

Cangialosi, the hurricane specialist on duty, warns that “Maria could also
affect the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by midweek as a
dangerous major hurricane.”
Sunday, September 17—Three days before landfall

The National Hurricane Center continues to watch Maria, issuing

forecasts throughout the day. In the afternoon, an Air Force hurricane
hunter flies into the storm and records 75-mile-per-hour wind speeds.

At 5 p.m., the National Weather Service announces that the storm is now a
hurricane. Maria is “likely to affect” Puerto Rico as a “dangerous major
hurricane,” warns the center. In official graphics, it suggests that the
storm will make landfall near midday on Wednesday, September 20.

Monday, September 18—Two days before landfall

At 5 a.m., the National Weather Service issues the first hurricane watch
for Puerto Rico. It slightly bumps up the time of the storm’s landfall,
predicting a Wednesday morning arrival in Puerto Rico. The storm’s
maximum wind speed is 90 miles per hour.

Over the course of the day, Hurricane Maria undergoes some of the
quickest rapid intensification ever measured.

At 5 p.m., the National Weather Service issues a hurricane warning for the
entirety of Puerto Rico. “Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye,”
writes Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the NWS. Pinhole eyes
are smaller and more robust than usual hurricane eyes, and they suggest
that the storm is quickly strengthening. Beven again warns the storm is
“an extremely dangerous major hurricane,” and adds, “it is possible that
the hurricane could reach Category 5 status.”

At 8 p.m., an Air Force hurricane-hunter plane flies through Maria,

recording maximum wind speeds of 160 miles per hour—meaning the
hurricane has attained Category 5 strength. An hour later, Maria makes
landfall in Dominica, a small island nation of more than 70,000 people.
The prime minister describes “mind-boggling” destruction before the
communications cut out.

Tuesday, September 19—One day before landfall

Hurricane Maria fluctuates between Category 4 and Category 5 intensity.

“It now appears likely that Maria will be at Category 5 intensity when it
moves over the U. S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico,” warns Richard
Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Weather Service.
“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to
completion.”

On the eve of landfall, between 60,000 and 80,000 customers who lost
power during Irma have still not regained service, according to Bloomberg
and Reuters.

The Puerto Rican government opens 500 schools and other buildings as
shelters. The New York Times reports that 2,756 people relocate to a
shelter. Locals tell the paper that they expect the central government will
lose contact with residents for three days after landfall.

President Donald Trump posts his first tweets about the storm. “Puerto
Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane. Be careful, our hearts are
with you—will be there to help!” he says.

In a press release, the Pentagon outlines how it’s preparing for the storm.
About 500 National Guard members are being called up in Puerto Rico,
and 820 will be stationed in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Air National
Guard will keep two Black Hawk helicopters and three C-130 transport
planes in the area to assist with immediate response.

Wednesday, September 20—Landfall

Hurricane Maria makes landfall just south of Yabucoa Harbor in Puerto
Rico at 6:15 a.m.

The National Weather Service observes maximum sustained winds of 155

miles per hour, making Maria the first Category 4 cyclone to hit the island
since 1932. The storm is almost Category 5, defined as any tropical storm
with winds 157 miles per hour or higher.

Parts of Puerto Rico see 30 inches of rain in one day, equal to the amount
that Houston received over three days during Hurricane Harvey. The
winds cause “tornado-like” damage over a swath of the island. They’re
strong enough to destroy the National Weather Service’s observing
sensors in the territory, forcing meteorologists to measure the storm
entirely by satellite.

The storm knocks out power to the entire island. Much of the island’s
population, including swaths of San Juan, cannot access clean water
without electrical power. Local officials warn that some towns see 80 to
90 percent of their structures destroyed.

Thursday, September 21—One day after landfall

In the morning, rain from the storm continues to deluge Puerto Rico, and
the National Weather Service warns of “catastrophic” flooding in the
territory’s mountainous interior. Informal estimates put the storm’s death
toll on the island at 10.

Ricardo Ramos, the chief executive of Puerto Rico’s public power utility,
tells CNN that its entire electrical infrastructure has been “destroyed.”

President Trump tells reporters that Puerto Rico is “obliterated,” after

meeting with the president of Ukraine at the United Nations in New York.
He says rebuilding will begin “with great gusto.”
“Their electrical grid is destroyed,” Trump says, according to The New
York Times. “It wasn’t in good shape to start off with. But their electrical
grid is totally destroyed. And so many other things.”

President Trump issues a state of emergency for Puerto Rico. He calls

local officials on the island and pledges to help, The Washington Post
reports. That night, he travels to his golf club in New Jersey for the
weekend.

Friday, September 22—Two days after landfall

Puerto Rican officials warn that restoring power to the island could take
six to eight months.

The airport in San Juan reopens to military traffic, according to the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.

President Trump meets with a handful of Cabinet officials to discuss his

new entry ban, which restricts citizens of eight countries from entering the
United States. At the meeting, he speaks briefly about Puerto Rico with
acting Homeland Security secretary Elaine Duke, according to The
Washington Post.

In the evening, President Trump holds a political rally in Alabama to

promote Luther Strange, a candidate in the Republican primary for the
U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The president
says that NFL owners should fire players who protest on the field, which
dominates headlines that weekend. He does not mention Puerto Rico
during this speech. He returns to New Jersey that night.

Saturday, September 23—Three days after landfall

The main port in San Juan reopens. “1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000
cots, [and] dozens of generators” arrive on 11 ships, according to the
Associated Press.

In news reports, it becomes clear that the island’s entire communications

infrastructure has been knocked out. Eighty-five percent of the island’s
1,600 cell towers don’t work, and neither do the vast majority of internet
and telephone lines, the AP reports.

The Puerto Rican government warns that Guajataca Dam, in the

territory’s northwest, could fail at any moment after getting walloped by
the storm. It begins evacuating the 70,000 people who live nearby. The
90-year-old dam had not been inspected since 2013.

Sunday, September 24—Four days after landfall

Vice President Mike Pence talks on the phone with Jenniffer González-
Colón, Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative in the House of
Representatives. It is the only reported communication between a Puerto
Rican leader and the president or vice president during the weekend.

In a tweet, Hillary Clinton calls on the president and Defense Secretary

James Mattis to send the U.S. Navy, including the hospital ship USNS
Comfort, to Puerto Rico immediately. “These are American citizens,” she
says.

Monday, September 25—Five days after landfall

The first Trump administration officials visit Puerto Rico to survey the
damage. They include Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal
Emergency-Management Agency, and Tom Bossert, a homeland-security
adviser. They return to Washington that night.
“We need to prevent a humanitarian crisis occurring in America. Puerto
Rico is part of the United States. We need to take swift action,” Puerto
Rican governor Ricardo Rosselló tells CNN.

The Pentagon issues its first written update entirely about the effort in
Puerto Rico. It says 2,600 Department of Defense employees are in the
territory or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Eight members of the House of Representatives write to President Trump,

asking him to waive the Jones Act for ports in Puerto Rico for one year.
The Jones Act is a 1920 law that requires ships carrying goods between
U.S. ports to fly the American flag, which means they must abide by U.S.
laws. It also requires these ships to be built in the United States and owned
and operated by American citizens. The government temporarily waived
the Jones Act with little fanfare for ports along the Gulf Coast after
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma struck.

At 8:45 p.m., the president tweets about Puerto Rico for the first time
since the storm made landfall. The Washington Post reports that he had
just come from dinner with conservative leaders in Congress.

“Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already
suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble,”
he says in a series of posts. “It’s [sic] old electrical grid, which was in
terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with
billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be
dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities—and doing well.”

Tuesday, September 26—Six days after landfall

Forty-four percent of Puerto Rico’s population, or 1.53 million people,
lack access to drinking water, the Pentagon says. Power remains out
across most of the island.

Fifteen percent of the island’s 69 hospitals are open. Eight airports and
eight seaports are open across Puerto Rico, though some are only
operating during the day.

Trump holds his first coordinating meeting in the Situation Room about
the response in Puerto Rico, according to a Washington Post report. He
talks to Governor Rosselló again, and talks to Congresswoman González-
Colón for the first time.

“There will be a humanitarian crisis. There will be a massive exodus to the

United States,” says Roselló. He implores Congress to pass an immediate
bill offering help commensurate to the scale of the disaster.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inspects the Guajataca Dam and finds
that it is intact but will need reinforcement.

The Florida senators—Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Bill Nelson, a

Democrat—write to Trump urging “additional federal assistance” for
Puerto Rico. “This is a life-threatening situation,” they write, warning of
“millions without power, communications, and water.”

Adam Smith, the ranking Democratic member on the House Armed

Services Committee, says that the Pentagon must establish a “coordinated
military effort” led by a three-star general. The Department of Defense
has taken similar steps after Hurricane Katrina and after Typhoon Haiyan
struck the Philippines in 2013.

The U.S. Navy announces the deployment of the USNS Comfort, a hospital
ship based in Norfolk, Virginia, to Puerto Rico. FEMA warns that the
Comfort must take on emergency staff, and that it may take another week
for the ship to be ready to leave port.

The Pentagon also announces it’s tasking nine additional cargo aircraft
with Puerto Rican relief, and seven additional cargo planes with disaster
response in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Wednesday, September 27—Seven days after landfall

The Puerto Rican government announces that 16 people have lost their
lives in the storm. It does not update the official death toll for another six
days.

At the White House, President Trump is asked if he is planning to waive

the Jones Act for Puerto Rico. “We’re thinking about that,” he tells
reporters. “But we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people that work in
the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted, and we have a
lot of ships out there right now.”

The Port of Mayagüez reopens for daylight operations, says the Pentagon.

Thursday, September 28—Eight days after landfall

The death toll from Hurricane Maria is likely far higher than what has
been declared, report the Miami Herald and the Center for Investigative
Journalism. Omaya Sosa Pascual, a reporter with the center, contacts the
few functioning hospitals and morgues and finds dozens more fatalities
than the widely reported figure of 16.

Seventy percent of Puerto Rico’s hospitals are not functioning, the Herald
also reports. Official death tolls do not account for patients who have
already died from not receiving dialysis or oxygen.
President Trump waives the Jones Act for 10 days, allowing ships not
flying the U.S. flag to access the island’s ports.

More than 10,000 shipping containers full of food and supplies lay
stranded in the Port of San Juan, reports CNN. They can’t be shipped to
the island’s interior due to a lack of fuel, labor, and working roads.
Governor Roselló says that only about 20 percent of Puerto Rico’s truckers
have been able to work.

Speaking at the White House, acting DHS secretary Elaine Duke tells
reporters she is “very satisfied” with the Puerto Rico response.

“I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people
and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a
devastating hurricane,” she says.

The Department of Defense charges Jeffrey Buchanan, a three-star

general with the U.S. Army, with leading the U.S. military’s response in
Puerto Rico. He arrives on the island the same day. The military estimates
160 million meals will be needed over the next 30 days.

“It didn’t require a three-star general eight days ago,” says Bossert,
Trump’s homeland-security adviser, explaining why no military leader
had been appointed before.

The USNS Comfort departs its base in Norfolk, Virginia. CNN reports that
the hospital ship is expected to arrive “in the middle of next week.”

Friday, September 29—Nine days after landfall

FEMA offers a different assessment of the island’s 69 hospitals: “One is

fully operational, 55 are partially operational, five are closed, and the
status of eight is as yet unknown,” it says in a statement.
The Department of Defense also says it’s operating 10 regional supply-
distribution centers across the territory, which supply “food, water, and
other commodities.”

Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, responds to acting DHS
secretary Duke saying the response is a “good news story.”

“Well maybe from where she's standing, it’s a good news story,” Cruz tells
CNN. “When you're drinking from a creek, it's not a good news story.
When you don't have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story. When you
have to pull people down from buildings—I’m sorry, that really upsets me
and frustrates me.”

She adds that Duke’s comments were not in line with the support the
White House has otherwise offered. At a press conference later that day,
Cruz tells reporters: “We are dying here. If we don’t get the food and the
water into the people’s hands, we are going to see something close to a
genocide.”

Saturday, September 30—10 days after landfall

Fifty-five percent of Puerto Rico, or about 1.87 million people, don’t have
clean drinking water, the Pentagon says. This is an increase from numbers
provided earlier in the week, meaning that either 300,000 people lost
clean water through the week or initial estimates were off.

The Pentagon also says that about half of grocery and big-box stores have
re-opened across the territory, as have about 851 gas stations.

President Trump grabs onto Mayor Cruz’s criticism from the day before.
He tweets about the politics of Puerto Rico more than half a dozen times,
criticizing her and accusing the press of attacking first responders and the
military.
“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days
ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to
Trump,” he writes. “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San
Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to
help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a
community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a
fantastic job.”

Sunday, October 1—11 days after landfall

More than a thousand service members arrive on the island, boosting its
number of Pentagon personnel from 4,600 to about 6,400, the
Department of Defense says.

About 8,800 people are in refugee shelters, says Governor Roselló in a

news conference. He also tells reporters that 36 percent of Puerto Ricans
have regained cell service.

The federal government will boost the number of regional supply-

distribution centers from 11 to “25 or more,” he also says.

President Trump continues tweeting about the success of the recovery

effort. “We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in
Puerto Rico. Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates,
people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done
by FEMA and our great Military,” he says in two posts.

He also seems to imply that all buildings across the island have now been
“inspected for safety,” a claim repeated by no other federal agency.

Monday, October 2—12 days after landfall

Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s secretary of public safety, admits to the

Center for Investigative Journalism that death tolls are likely much higher
than official estimates.

“I believe there are more dead, but I don’t have reports telling me, [for
example], eight died in Mayagüez because they lacked oxygen, that four
died in San Pablo because they did not receive dialysis,” he says.

The Defense Department reports that 7,200 military personnel are

working on the island. But the Pentagon revises down its estimate of
reopened gas stations, saying “more than 759” of 1,120 are selling gas
again. It does not provide a reason for the change. It also reports that
about 65 percent of grocery and big-box stores are open.

About 12 percent of cell towers on the island are operational again, says
the Federal Communications Commission. Puerto Rican officials estimate
that only about 40 percent of residents have any kind of internet or cell
service.

Tuesday, October 3—13 days after landfall

President Trump visits Puerto Rico for the first time since Maria made
landfall. During the visit, he tosses relief supplies, including paper towels
and toilet paper, into a crowd of onlookers.
“I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of
whack,” he says at a news conference with the territory’s leaders. “That’s
fine. We saved a lot of lives.”

He also compares Maria favorably to Hurricane Katrina. “Every death is a

horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at
the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died,
and you look at what happened here and what is your death count? Sixteen
people, versus in the thousands,” he says. “You can be very proud.” The
comment is factually incorrect in several ways, as my colleague David
Graham notes.

After his visit, Governor Roselló issues the first update to the island’s
official death toll in six days. Hurricane Maria killed 34 people in Puerto
Rico, he says.

At 10 a.m., the USNS Comfort arrives in Puerto Rico. The Defense

Department reports that 9,000 military personnel are now on the island.

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