A top Trump administration official leading the Hurricane Maria response said Thursday she is “very satisfied” with the federal government’s recovery role in Puerto Rico, which she called a “good news story.”
“I am very satisfied,” said acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke. “I know it’s a hard storm to recover from but the amount of progress that’s been made, and I really would appreciate any support that we get. I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane.”
Asked to clarify her comment that the government’s response to the storm is a “good news story,” Duke pointed to effective coordination between federal and local authorities and said there is “unification of command.”
“It’s good news that we have a unification of command where the governor, the federal response, and the people are all united toward saving lives and giving things to the people they need,” Duke said.
Duke’s comments came eight days after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and as huge swaths of the island’s population still does not have access to potable water or fuel to power generators. The island’s power grid was destroyed in the storm and government officials are still working to clear roads and put shipping ports and airports back into operation to distribute resources across the island.
Many hospitals on the island are only now coming back online, with White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert saying 44 of Puerto Rico’s 69 hospitals are now operational. Fewer than half were operational on Wednesday as limited access to fuel shut down power generators.
Duke struck a remarkably different tone than FEMA Administrator Brock Long, who said earlier Thursday on CNN that he is “not satisfied” with the federal response.
“I’m not satisfied because the fact is that we will not be satisfied until we stabilize the situation,” Long said.
Duke’s comments reflected the perils of the Trump administration’s attempts in recent days to reassure Americans that the federal government is appropriately responding to the unfolding crisis in Puerto Rico, even as pictures of devastation and struggling recovery efforts are broadcast on national news.
President Donald Trump has touted the federal government’s response, but acknowledged Wednesday that “Puerto Rico is a very difficult situation.”
“That place was just destroyed. That’s not a question of, gee, let’s dry up the water, let’s do this or that. I mean, that place was flattened. That is a really tough situation,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.
Pressed Thursday about why the island remains in such a desperate situation eight days after the hurricane made landfall, Duke said that the unprecedented power of the hurricane means “recovery is not going to be an overnight thing.”
She said the government is working through priority areas to deliver fuel and restore power to the island.
“We went hospitals first, now we’re on gas stations, so it is a conscious effort to make sure we don’t have loss of life and we could not. We had goods in there, FEMA never left from the first Hurricane Irma that hit but we have to be careful about the safety of those that are coming in to respond also. And make sure that we don’t move them in ’til the storm clears,” Duke said.
Bossert, the President’s homeland security adviser, echoed those comments as well as Duke’s praise of the federal response so far.
“I think we had more workforce in Puerto Rico than we did for any other storm in history. It’s been an unprecedented storm, it’s been an unprecedented response, and the President and I have absolutely 100% confidence in what Sec. Duke, and Brock Long, and the men and women of Puerto Rico are doing. We’re going to get through this,” Bossert said.
“I understand the coverage in some cases is giving the appearance that we’re not moving fast enough. I think that there’s kind of two responses I’d have to that. First, there’s an understandable degree of devastation on the island and for anybody that needs food and water, power, lifesaving needs and commodities, health care, there’s nothing that can help fast enough,” he said.
Bossert added: “But what I will tell you is that we are mobilizing and marshaling the resources of the United States of America in a way that is absolutely professional, fast, and adequate to meet the needs.”
The devastation in Puerto Rico has presented federal responders with enormous challenges, with much of the country’s infrastructure wrecked or significantly disrupted.
At least 10,000 containers of supplies — including food, water and medicine — were sitting Thursday at the San Juan port, waiting to be deployed throughout the US territory.
Only 20% of truck drivers reported back for work in the wake of Hurricane Maria and diesel fuel shortages and blocked roads have also hampered the distribution of supplies.