FEMA Leads Federal Response to Aid Puerto Rico in Wake of Hurricane Fiona
The federal government is surging hundreds of personnel to Puerto Rico, to assist in response and recovery from Hurricane Fiona. The Hurricane hit the Caribbean this weekend and has since strengthened to a Category Four hurricane. The storm left roughly 40 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.3 million residents without water and roughly three-fourths of residents without power. On Wednesday, President Joseph Biden issued a major disaster declaration to unlock additional federal assistance for Puerto Rican residents.
The major disaster declaration allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to directly assist individuals pay for temporary housing and home repairs, provide, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property loses and pay for other programs to help individuals and business owners recover losses.
Additionally, FEMA announced the deployment of one national and four regional Incident Management Teams and two Urban Search and Rescue teams to augment the hundreds of FEMA personnel already on the ground in Puerto Rico.
“Our partnership with the Government of Puerto Rico has never been stronger and we remain committed to helping them respond to and recover from Hurricane Fiona,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell in the agency’s statement announcing the deployment. “We're sending hundreds of additional personnel in the next few days to place staff in each of the affected communities to supplement our already vast footprint.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also mobilizing a local response to provide emergency response and relied in protected areas. At the request of FEMA and local authorities, DHS announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel would help conduct search and rescue, air traffic de-confliction and public safety missions.
According to DHS, ICE and CBP personnel would not conduct immigration enforcement activities and would provide emergency assistance to individuals regardless of immigration status.
FEMA emphasized that its support for Puerto Rico has been ongoing, particularly since Hurricane Maria hit the island five years ago. On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit the island as a Category Four storm leaving about 3,000 residents dead and damaging 80 percent of the territories power system. It took almost a year to restore power across the island.
Both the federal government and local officials in Puerto Rico received widespread criticism for the Hurricane Maria response. Just days after Hurricane Fiona hit, Benito Ocasio, a Puerto Rican artist better known as Bad Bunny – currently the number one streaming artist in the world – released a 23-minute music video for his song “El Apagón” which segues into an 18 minute documentary called “Aquí Vive Gente” (“People Live Here”) highlighting the struggles facing the island and the need for additional support.
Before Hurricane Fiona hit this week, FEMA already has roughly 700 personnel on the island prepared to response. According to Government Executive, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Health and Human Services Department also have personnel deployed to Puerto Rico.
Keith Turi, FEMA’s assistant administrator for recovery, told reporters on Tuesday that FEMA is better position to support Puerto Rico’s recover effort than it was in 2017. FEMA has additional commodities on the island within four warehouses, compared to just one in when Maria struck. It has more water and generators on the island than it ever had previously, Turi added, and FEMA personnel have spent years developing better relationships with local officials.
The federal government is currently slated to reimburse 75 percent of the costs for the recovery. However, Democratic Senators have asked the Biden Administration to raise the reimbursement to 100 percent.
For federal employees impacted by natural disasters, the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund also offers grants and assistance. Employees can learn more here.