Thank you Paul Henderson for this important News clarifcation! PUERTO RICO RESCUE UPDATE: The news media is presenting the impression that Trump isn't doing much about the crisis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. So here's a summary (compiled mostly from FEMA's daily updates) of what the Trump Administration has done so far since Maria hit Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on September 20 By September 23 . . . ** Six commercial barges were delivering meals, water, generators, cots, and other commodities to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ** Three flights per day were arriving, each carrying approximately 33,000 meals. ** The logistics support ship SS Wright arrived carrying more than 1.1 million meals, and nearly one million liters of freshwater. ** Two shipping barges with 1.2 million liters of water, 31 generators, and more than 6,000 cots have arrived in St. Thomas. ** Two additional shipping barges loaded with food, water, and emergency relief supplies are en route to the Caribbean Sea from Florida. ** Millions of additional meals were and are being flown to Puerto Rico from staging areas in Kentucky and Florida. ** DLA transported 124,000 gallons of diesel fuel to Puerto Rico. By September 27, the Trump Administration, working with officials in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands . . . ** Opened points of distribution (POD) in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for survivors to get meals, water, and other commodities. ** FEMA, working in coordination with federal partners, provided millions of meals and millions of liters of water to Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. Additional meals and water continue to arrive at the islands daily. ** FEMA’s National Business Emergency Operations Center (NBEOC) is facilitating private sector requests for humanitarian relief. ** The NBEOC continues coordination between government and private sector organizations as the community responds to Hurricanes Maria. ** Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) communications assets and personnel continue to support the FEMA Incident Management Assistance Teams (IMAT), Urban Search and Rescue (US&R), National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), and other federal teams in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As of September 27, 2017 . . . ** A U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) mobile communications team is in Puerto Rico to help improve communications across the storm-impacted area. ** FEMA search and rescue teams have visited all 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico, conducting search and rescue operations and helping to assess hospitals. ** FEMA US&R task forces saved or assisted 843 individuals and five pets, while searching over 2,600 structures as of September 27. ** The U.S. Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority drinking water system is back online, and other drinking water systems on the islands are top priority for receiving generators. ** The Concordia potable water pump station is online in St. Croix. ** The U.S. Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority Waste Management, and USACE are addressing potential public health risks of garbage build up; coordinating route clearance of wires and poles to enable garbage haulers to access the St. Thomas landfill. ** The National Guard Bureau (NGB) has thousands of Guard members on the ground in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands taking part in security and support operations. The Air National Guard is focused on transporting food, water, and communications capabilities as well as rapidly increasing airlift into affected areas. ** More than 180 Federal Law Enforcement Officers (FLEO) are in San Juan and the U.S. Virgin Islands supporting search and rescue, medical teams, and other federal responders, additional FLEOs are en route expected to arrive this week. Additional law enforcement support from New York State Police is on the ground in St. John. ** The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has supported the restoration of services to all 8 commercial airports in Puerto Rico. ** The FAA has restored full Air Traffic Control (ATC) services to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan and limited ATC services to Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla. Recovery efforts are now supporting more than a dozen commercial passenger flights per day at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. ** 26 chainsaw teams and one Incident Management Team (IMT) (23 individuals) from the Department of Agriculture United States Forest Service arrived in Puerto Rico Wednesday to conduct emergency road clearance and manage logistics. ** The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) debris experts are assisting FEMA with debris management strategies in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. One of the first priorities is emergency route clearance in multiple locations to enable access to remote locations. ** USACE also completed a Blue Roof install on Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas, and completed its first residential Blue Roof install on September 23. Assessments for St. Croix are ongoing. A customer service center for Blue Roof installations opened over the weekend for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ** To bolster the delivery of fuel throughout Puerto Rico, 100 delivery trucks were dispatched by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) carrying an estimated 275,000 gallons of diesel fuel. ** Power is restored to Centro Médico Hospital in San Juan and San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. **The Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital in St. Croix and the Schneider Regional Medical Center in St. Thomas are established as mobile hospitals. ** More than half of dialysis centers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are open and accessible for patients. More critical care facilities will re-open in the coming days as power and access are restored. ** The U.S. Coast Guard reports the following port statuses with additional ports opening as assessments continue: Puerto Rico: Open: Port of San Juan, Guayanilla, Salinas, and Talboa Open with restrictions: Arecibo, Fajardo, Culebra, Guayama, Mayaguez, and Vieques U.S. Virgin Islands: Open: St. Thomas: Charlotte Amalie, East Gregerie Channel, Crown Bay, West Gregerie Channel St. Croix: Krause Lagoon, Frederiksted, Limetree Bay Open with Restrictions: St. Thomas: Redhook Bay St. John: Cruz Bay ** USACE coordinated transportation of more than 300 FEMA or Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) generators from across the U.S. to meet anticipated requirements in the islands. More generators continue to arrive. The above info is compiled mostly from the FEMA website, which provides a daily update on what's happening. And this from my military expert friend J Michael Waller who is tracking this closely. I'll just copy and paste here what he reports: US Navy/Marine Corps Assets currently on station, or enroute to the Caribbean AOR: 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit with Battalion Landing Team 2/6 Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Battle Group Amphibious Assault Ship USS Wasp Amphibious Assault Ship USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Assault Ship USS Kearsarge Amphibious Transport Dock USS New York Amphibious Landing Ship USS Oak Hill Hospital Ship USNS Comfort Aviation Logistics Support Ship USNS Wright Dry Cargo Ship USNS William McLean The above are enough assets to land an entire USMC Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with combat logistics elements. For those who don't know what that is, that's several thousand Marines, with all their gear. All of the above, with the exception of the hospital ship, are capable of independent air operations. Note: MEDEVACs are ALREADY being done, and began IMMEDIATELY by the US Coast Guard, and US Navy aviation. Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is producing purified potable water, at the rate of 400,000 gallons a day. Full capacity. The carrier, all 3 assault ships, the LSD, and LPD, all have operating rooms to stabilize critical medical/trauma cases, prior to evacuation to either the hospital ship, or land based medical treatment facilities. The hospital ship is capable of handling a patient load of up to 1,000 patients, with full OR, ICU, and Recovery wards. In addition, fleet refueling ships are also enroute to provide fuel specifically for public safety equipment on the ground. Obviously, the human catastrophe in Puerto Rico continues to be dire. Pray for Puerto Rico. And much work still needs to be done. But it's just inaccurate (intentionally inaccurate) to suggest that Trump has not taken every conceivable action to help the 3.4 million people of Puerto Rico. From my house, daily flights of Blackhawks, Chinooks,& V-22 Ospreys. Police escorted FEMA convoys. It's exactly why Pres. Trump refers to them as "fake news".
(Thankfully the team that I serve on was NOT sent. There are deer to be killed at this time of year and they are NOT going to kill themselves...!)
Pete
I salute your nephew the LTCDR Henry!
WRT to PR....I think the longest we went with out power after one of the several hurricanes was about 2 weeks. No water for about 10 days. Our C-130's from Clearwater and ECity flew in pallets of water and generators to keep things running. True story....after the hurricanes and the vegetation, trees, flowers, etc get denuded, you can't leave any foods or drinks out because the bees will swarm to it. Almost drank some bee-flavored Pepsi once. Couldn't spit it out quick enough with bees flying out of the can.
