By John McPhaul
In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ernesto, Puerto Rico government officials, along with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel and other partners, continued to visit affected areas on Thursday to determine the next phase of response to the storm event, as Puerto Rico faces its lingering effects.
Earlier this week, President Joe Biden authorized an emergency declaration to grant federal disaster assistance (DFA), if required, and assist the island government in responding to and recovering from the impacts of Ernesto. FEMA is authorized to provide federal resources for life safety and life-sustaining activities throughout the island, should the government have a need.
“Residents of Puerto Rico recovering from Tropical Storm Ernesto should take precautions as they assess their damage and begin to clean up,” Federal Coordinating Officer Robert Little III said. “With thousands of people still without power, residents should be aware of the dangers of extreme heat.”
In other developments:
* Carolina District Sen. Marissa “Marissita” Jiménez Santoni joined the request of Canóvanas Mayor Lornna Soto Villanueva to the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) board of directors to address the problem of wastewater in the River Valley community of that municipality.
The senator also asked PRASA to expedite the processing of claims for damages that residents of the aforementioned community will submit in the coming days due to the overflow of sewage they have suffered.
“This event should serve as a lesson for some PRASA executives,” Jiménez Santoni said. “Our mayor made a timely and just request that the issue of sewage in the River Valley community be addressed before the passage of Tropical Storm Ernesto; however, they looked the other way and did not act with the urgency that the residents of this sector require and as a consequence, these families experienced the overflow of wastewater, a flood that could have been prevented.”
Soto had reported that dozens of families in the community had suffered damages as a result of PRASA management allegedly not turning on drainage pumps in time.
*Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said earlier this week that classes in the public education system will begin on Monday.
“Regarding the education system, the decision we have made is that we will expect teaching and non-teaching staff to return to schools on Friday and our expectation is that school will resume next Monday,” Pierluisi said at a press conference late Wednesday.
“Essential personnel, that is, those in charge of response, must report to their respective workplaces in the government [Thursday],” he added. “Likewise, personnel dedicated to the maintenance of facilities must report to work tomorrow [Thursday] and agency officials are also called to work tomorrow. [...] That is the decision regarding the government. We hope that the rest of the public employees can report to work on Friday.”
* The Coast Guard reopened seaports in Puerto Rico on Thursday under Port Condition FOUR, allowing operations restricted to daylight hours on waterways.
Puerto Rico’s port facilities were opened to all commercial vessel traffic, although operations were limited to daylight hours. Cargo operations were cleared to resume without restrictions, but mariners were advised to exercise caution due to the possible presence of floating debris and to report any anomalies to the Coast Guard. Daylight restrictions for the ports in Puerto Rico have been lifted; all port facilities and navigable waterways in the jurisdiction may resume normal operations.
The Coast Guard also set Port Condition FOUR in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thursday afternoon, reopening maritime ports there with the exception of Frederiksted port in St. Croix, which at press time remained closed under Port Condition ZULU pending further assessments.
* The National Weather Service (NWS) in San Juan on Thursday revealed the total amounts of precipitation following the passage of Tropical Storm Ernesto through Puerto Rico for the previous 48 hours.
According to data collected through 8 a.m. on Thursday, the regions most affected by heavy rains included areas in the south and southeast of Puerto Rico, where accumulations of up to 16 inches of rain had been recorded. The Cordillera Central area, between the northern part of Ponce and the south of Utuado, to the municipalities of Villalba, Coamo, Aibonito, Barranquitas and Orocovis, received between 10 and 12 inches of rain.
The rest of the central zone received between 5 and 10 inches of rain.
Some coastal municipalities, including the northern coast and southern municipalities such as Salinas and Guayama, received between 3 and 4 inches of rain.
The intense rainfall has caused significant flooding problems in several areas of the island, especially in mountains and valleys, where rivers and streams have reached critical levels.
* Ernesto, which was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it moved away from Puerto Rico on Wednesday, was located about 180 miles east of Grand Turk Island on Thursday morning and continued to strengthen as it moved across the western Atlantic. It had sustained wind speeds of at least 74 miles per hour (mph) at the time of the upgrade, and wind speeds reached 80 mph Wednesday night. Ernesto was expected to continue strengthening with the possibility of becoming a major hurricane by Friday, according to the NWS.
A hurricane watch was issued for Bermuda, where hurricane conditions are possible by Saturday, the weather service said, according to The New York Times.
Although Ernesto was moving away from Puerto Rico, there was a risk of rainfall associated with the hurricane accumulating between 6 and 10 inches in the southern and eastern regions of the island, with maximum amounts of up to 12 inches, while in the northwest between 3 and 6 inches were expected. The risk of flooding and landslides persisted into Thursday, especially in previously saturated areas.
Meanwhile, storm surge generated by Ernesto continued to affect the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday, while extending toward the Bahamas and the east coast of the United States on Friday and into the weekend.
* Gov. Pierluisi said late Wednesday that it was too soon to evaluate the performance of LUMA Energy. Some 730,000 of the private operator’s customers were left without power on Wednesday. LUMA reported that the number had been reduced to 479,000 by Thursday morning.
“No, the instruction is the same one I gave since this started, which I verbalized publicly,” the governor said at a press conference. “Yes, that service must be restored as soon as possible. And this is not the time to be evaluating the execution, this is the time for everyone to be rowing in the same direction. What I am seeing is that LUMA is working in a coordinated manner with [power plant operator] Genera, and that is what I expect. What I am seeing is that the brigades are on the street, they are doing their job and if they have not done so it is because the weather has not allowed it. If I had reason to be dissatisfied I would say so, but this is not the time to be doing that. …”
Employees of the private consortium that manages the transmission and distribution network were unable to complete the aerial patrol with National Guard helicopters because weather conditions did not allow it. It is expected that the inspection process could be completed on Thursday.
As of press time Thursday, there was no specific timetable for when most power customers would have service. As of early Thursday, LUMA personnel had managed to energize four major transmission lines between Carolina and Fajardo and another 15 that were understood to not be facing problems.
“Until we finish the assessments, we will not be able to make a forecast,” said Alejandro González, LUMA’s director of operations. LUMA President & CEO Juan Saca said he hoped that Thursday would bring “a lot of progress” in the restoration of power.
He added that “222 structures have been identified that were damaged, but so far we have not found a catastrophic situation from the point of view of what it will cost us to repair, but even so the helicopters had to return twice and we need to continue that work.”
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