More troops to Puerto Rico
The Pentagon has been sending troops by the thousands to Puerto Rico to help with the island’s recovery from Hurricane Maria. Hundreds of Marines from the USS KEARSARGE, an amphibious assault ship, have been busy clearing the ten airfields suitable for the heavy air traffic bringing relief from the US. From Stars & Stripes;
The military aims to fly about 10 planes per hour into the region Wednesday to provide relief. Only three to six aircraft had been able land each hour previously, Davis said.
Nearly all of Puerto Rico remained without power Wednesday and nearly half of its inhabitants did not have access to drinking water, according to the Pentagon. The military had helped restore some level of power to 59 of the island’s 69 hospitals by Wednesday, but most of them remained unable to provide advanced care.
Sixteen helicopters have arrived, eight from Fort Campbell, Kentucky and eight more from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the military shipped about 350 satellite telephones to aid people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, many of whom have been unable to communicate with family members and friends for nearly a week, Davis said. Cell phone service remains down for about 95 percent of Puerto Rico.
The island is also largely without power and more than half of Puerto Ricans are without potable water.
Category: Who knows
FEMA is doing a fantastic job here!
Life saving and life sustainment ops are in full swing.
Debris removal; air and sea bridges to cut off areas and villages; food, water and hygiene drops; setting up of field hospital; and fuel and commodity distribution are all priorities.
The flow of resources can be described as “go big and fast”. DoD has a very large role under FEMA to get this done.
Line crews from across North America will work the electrical distro issue as soon as debris is removed from effected areas and roads. These crews are staged and ready … many already on site!
Do not believe all you read in the MSM. It is bad beyond belief, however the full capabilities and resources (led by FEMA … all fed govt agencies and all branches of the US Armed Forces) of our Great Nation are on it!
Hurricane Harvey was the largest and disaster response in our Nation’s history … Hurricane Maria will prove to be many times that.
This disaster will most likely be the big topic when I attend the National Hurricane Conference up in Orlando next March.
All I’m seeing on the morning news is that the island is still flooded up to its neck – old footage – and that relief is on its way, but no reports that it has arrived.
It does not surprise me that the real news is being squelched.
This is old news because … some areas are too dangerous to enter.
“ONLY CNN GOT IN” according to CNN and their assessment did not match ground truth as briefed by Governor of PR and FEMA officials.
But what do I know!
Oh, I know, Master Chief. I copied the Stars & Stripes link and sent that, as well as a link to an article about the USNS Comfort, to the local station and asked them to pleases update their story.
This is not a good article on what has already been done and recovered.
The 26 MEU and a Seabee Detachment have been clearing routes and started some repairs, along with inspections on Bridges and repairs underway. They also have a Seabee UCT and Navy EOD inspecting harbor and clearing it.
Seabees have restored power to 1o hospitals and working on the others. They also have MUSE teams and a Battlion from Port Huneme who are n ground now. The 26 MEU and Seabees have set up HQ on the old NAS Rossey Roads Airfield and this will be staging area recovery operations.
The MSM is not showing this because it goes against thier storyline.
10
If it was a democrat calling the shots, they’d be all over the relief effort, showing how much excellent help the president has sent. But it’s Trump, so they’ll pretend nothing’s being done for the poor hispanic islanders by the evil white president.
“The MSM is not showing this because it goes against thier storyline.”
I’m sure they’re cowering and sniveling in their inner offices trying to come up with at least some editorialized coverage blaming the misery all on President Trump, FUCK CNN and the rest of the lamestream mess media!
I’m torn on this. On one hand my sympathy says “Get the supplies there yesterday, no matter the cost!”. Yet the pragmatic New Englander in me says, “F*** you guys, shoulda gotten a plan together”.
To add to the misery, the infrastructure there has not been maintained. The electric company was basically a state-run charity before the hurricane. To top that off the government was beyond broke/broken.
This mess existed before the storm, hell, last year Savoir Barry could have done SOMETHING… But the Fed Gubment is red, now it’s a problem and their fault.
GFY, mainstream media.
Get your sh*t together PR.
Sympathy loses to Pragmatism this round.
Sympathy loses to the real world.
There are Regional and National Catastrophic Plans that are extremely detailed. These plans have resulted in a very quick response.
If you are questioning the level of planning, these plans are as detailed as any other to shelf mil contigency plan.
Am I questioning the quality or details of a FEMA/DoD plan?
Hell no. Those employees are experts and professionals.
One thing I learned while in, the government may not move fast, efficiently or cheaply, but she moves.
ROG WILCO … I was just standing up for our work and my crew!
Hell, most of the time experts can’t get the politicos to listen or understand existential threats, to wit: Dr. Pry of DHS re EMP shielding/electric grid hardening.
The congress…smh
Best example of why a private stockpile of water and food is never a bad idea…those pails of 25 year shelf life food aren’t all that exciting to eat but they are loaded with calories and will sustain…water on a shelf in a sealed container lasts forever…nothing wrong with several hundred gallons of water safely stored in a cool dry place along with some tablets to keep it safe for drinking…Figure being able to live for 90 days without outside water and food and you should be able to survive a situation like this without much effort.
^^^this.
A couple of LifeStraws are cheap insurance. Hell, a couple pool chlorine tablets will purify thousands of gallons of water. Crush one up, mix a couple of tablespoons in 3 cups of water and Bleach! 8-10 drops of this per gallon and you have drinking water. You mean to tell me no-one on Puerto Rico has a friggen pool??????
NY (both police and fire) have teams working Utuado up in the mountains… we got word on the last in-laws being safe for now, but they say it is a bit of a mess. Power back maybe in December, only way up to the oldest relatives’ house is to walk since the road was washed away by flooding. News this morning showed what looked like hundreds of containers on the docks waiting to be distributed, but sufficient trucks cannot reach them on the trashed-out roads.
Debris removal is always a first priority.
Trying to figure out what they are using in Houston… they finally cleaned my neighbor’s/my pile this week, and took 4″ of top soil, denuding the entire area between sidewalk and street. It’s like they just used a scoop to drag it all into the street and picked it up with a front-loader.
The originally contracted debris removal companies bailed and went to Florida because the pay was better. Breach of contract. Hope they never find work in Texas again.
Problem they are having is truck drivers and those cleared for the Port. I’m thinking of volunteering and heading down to pull those containers for a couple of weeks
Good on the Marines!
“At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the military shipped about 350 satellite telephones to aid people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, many of whom have been unable to communicate with family members and friends for nearly a week, Davis said. Cell phone service remains down for about 95 percent of Puerto Rico.”
This amazes me. A generation ago, transcontinental communication was only economical by mail, which took weeks. We now have arrived at the point where a week without a phone is an insufferable loss.
Not passing judgement. Just noticing how our priorities have changed. I deployed in support of the Katrina relief efforts to MS a few weeks after the hurricane. Lots of unfathomable damage, but ATMs were working, fast food restaurants were up, and life had returned to a level of normalcy. If you’d have believed the media at the time, the entire gulf coast had devolved into a lawless hell hole.
hate to be picky, but you asked for an operator, gave them the number you wanted to reach, and they called you back with a pretty reliable connection in the ’50s. Prior to that Telex/telegraph was fast and cheap – the first Transatlantic telegraph cable went in before the Civil War. Mail hasn’t been the staple fora long time.
I would bet that the copper scrappers are working around the clock, with entire families busy strippin’ and choppin’.
I hate to say this but here it go’s. They are in a hell of their own making. Decades of corruption and mis-management have destroyed the government and drove them into bankruptcy. Infrastructure is or was on a third world level, they kicked out the US Military and constantly screeched for Independence ( remember Oscar Lopez Rivera?) and tried to institute a reign of terror in the US to get it and now when shit hits the fan who are the screaming for to come save them?
I say help them out, fix the country and turn them loose to fend for themselves. I can’t see one reason to keep that as a Territory.
You got it!
Surprised CNN is not saying we are invading….
Perhaps stupid question, but isn’t even a single nuclear carrier capable of generating enough electricity for the island, at least for basic needs? Or is the infrastructure that bad? I know it’s been in sorry shape for a long time…
All of that going on and the libtard Mayor of San Juan goes on a shit-fit rant denigrating President Trump with pictures of her doing so in front of multiple pallets of food and water.