President Donald J. Trump's Administration Has Helped Lead a Historic Recovery Effort in Puerto Rico | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    "And we stand with Puerto Rico, and we are helping them to rebuild stronger and better than ever before."  -  President Donald J. Trump

    HISTORIC RECOVERY EFFORT: The Federal Government has helped lead a historic recovery effort in Puerto Rico in the year since Hurricane Maria hit.

           •  FEMA has joined with Federal partners and the Government of Puerto Rico to undertake one of the largest post-disaster reconstruction efforts in United States history.

           •  Never before has FEMA coordinated federal resources to rebuild an entire island of this size.

           •  The Federal response to Hurricane Maria marked the largest and longest Federal response to a disaster in the history of the United States. This response included:

                 •  The longest sustained domestic air mission of food and water response in our history.

                 •  The largest disaster commodity distribution mission in United States history.

                 •  The largest disaster generator installation mission in United States history.

           •  Billions in Federal funds have been dedicated for Puerto Rico, including:

                 •  $20 billion allocated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster-related community development grants to Puerto Rico, the largest ever.

                 •  $1.4 billion in federal grants approved for more than 462,000 homeowners and renters.

                 •  $3.2 billion in FEMA Public Assistance funding obligated.

                 •  $33 million in claims paid by the National Flood Insurance Program.

                 •  $1.85 billion in low-interest disaster loans from the Small Business Administration.

                 •  $8 million in disaster unemployment assistance for more than 9,000 survivors.

                 •  $802 million approved for FEMA housing assistance.

    ONE YEAR LATER: Significant progress has been made over the last year to help Puerto Rico recover following the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

           •  Following Hurricane Maria, FEMA was presented with unprecedented challenges as it responded to a Category 4 storm that disabled an entire island.

           •  Puerto Rico's entire electrical grid failed following Hurricane Maria, but today power has been restored to 99.99 percent of customers able to receive an electrical connection.

           •  Water systems were inoperable following Hurricane Maria, but today 99 percent of customers have had water restored.

           •  Debris and 41,000 landslides shut down all but 400 miles of Puerto Rico's 16,700 miles of roads, but today roads are clear and traffic is moving.

           •  Hurricane Maria knocked out 95 percent of cellular sites, but today 99.8 percent are operating.

    PREPARING FOR FUTURE STORMS: FEMA has worked to address lessons learned from Hurricane Maria and ensure the island is better prepared for future storms.

           •  FEMA has made preparations that will better enable Puerto Rico to withstand future storms, and led an exercise to test Puerto Rico's capabilities and execution ahead of hurricane season.

           •  FEMA deployed regional incident management assistance teams to support 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico in developing their own plans ahead of hurricane season.

           •  Stockpiles have been increased in Puerto Rico, including, as of July 30, 2018, 17 times more water, 7 times more meals, and 7 times more generators compared to the same period in 2017.

           •  More than 600 strategically located generators are in place to enable FEMA and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to maintain backup power capability during hurricane season.

• Contact: White House
•     Press Office