As my mom said last night, “do we not have a military? I bet if there were oil there, we’d find a way to deal with the situation.”
I believe the Air National Guard of most states are flying supplies down there, the problem at present seems to be getting the stuff from the airports and main ports to where they’re needed inland. That’s the current bottleneck.
And it’s probably solvable - but it requires acknowledging there’s a problem to be solved first.
Also, some of them may be busy being dead. With so many areas out if reach and out of contact, who knows what the real death count is?
As Mom was saying, why are they not landing helicopters with supplies in places where they are needed? They can get supplies into the mountains of Afghanistan with people shooting at them, but not to a U.S. territory??
Commercial truck drivers are required to pass a physical and thus can be assumed to have a certain level of general healthiness - while no doubt they are as vulnerable as anyone else to accidents, I expect they’re going to be hardy enough to endure the heat and a week of bad conditions. I suspect the biggest problem is difficulty in getting the drivers to the trucks as they were not located directly next to each other during the storm.
Couple of issues.
First, you have to get the choppers to Puerto Rice. The usual procedure is to get aircraft away from hurricane areas before the storm hits. Any left behind may well have been damaged by either direct effects of the storm or by collapses of the buildings they’re housed in. So, step one, get the helicopters to Puerto Rico.
Second, you need fuel for the helicopters. Fuels of all sorts are in short supply in Puerto Rico right now.
Third, limited range. Due to fuel shortages helicopters can’t count on refueling at a landing site, so they have to be careful to retain sufficient reserves to return to base after dropping off supplies/picking up people.
Fourth - and this is a big safety issue - even a helicopter needs a place to land. That’s a reasonably flat/stable spot for the skids/wheels and sufficient clear airspace for the rotors. If a town is collapsed buildings and streets filled with rubble that may not be available at present. Even for a hovering helicopter, you need an area without dangling cables or other obstructrions.
Again, ALL of the above are surmountable, but it takes time and planning to deal with them. And you have to admit there is a problem.
For the first - well, it’s been a week, we should have been sending helicopters down there after the storm cleared out. Did we? I have no idea whether that’s a yes or no.
Two and three - fuel supplies are a problem, but again, we should have send supplies down there along with the choppers. Even if the range of operations are limited let’s get started, helping some people is better than helping none.
Four - In some cases you might have to initially drop supplies. Also drop tools and instructions like “clear area X feet by X feet for future landing area” where you see local people. If it’s to get food, water, and medical care the locals will probably be happy to self-organize and clear an improvised landing pad.
That’s just what I’ve come up with - I’m sure the experts could do even better. BUT - you have to admit there’s a problem (I’m looking at you, Trump & Co.) and start taking steps to get the problems addressed.
Appointing a general actually makes sense - the military is what has the logistical skills and resources for this sort of thing. So far we’ve had the Air National Guards getting stuff to the island, but the Air Force doesn’t have the expertise to get stuff that last mile to where it’s needed. That’s more of an Army area.
A great way to test out those new littoral vessels that carry marines and helicopters.
And General Honore of New Orleans fame.
Update on me: higher-ups have ordered me relocated to work from the DC side. In the process. Will check in and update once this schlep is done.
FEMA workers have apparently been able to get to some villages to interview people on what is needed. Maybe they could bring along some food and water when they go? It seems like to get help you need your mayor to show up at the convention center and bitch loud enough and they’ll give you some supplies. Hoping that with the military in charge they will get more done. Also not buying the excuse that they assumed communications would be intact and roads would be passable. Even I knew about the infrastructure problems before Maria and I’ve only been to Puerto Rico once for a few hours on a cruise. The new reports anticipated that power would be out for months before Maria hit. The PTB were aware of the problem and failed to plan. At the same time, lets not forget the USVI. Their officials are not making as much noise but they are hurting too.
Some numbers while we await the Big Cheese blessing us with his splendor:
As of today FEMA reports of 5000 miles of road, only 388 known fully clear & safe, 1342 partly so. Power Authority still under 7% of grid, may get up to 15% in two weeks. Majority of hospitals at least partially operating. Corps of Engineers shoring up Guajataca Dam.
Fuel resupply issue apparently getting under control at last, between military operations and private haulers finally making it.
Rural communities still experiencing major hardship due to limited access of supplies. Much concern about special-needs popularion getting cut off from their service resources.
Major upcoming issue: large segments of the economy have been rendered either short or long term inactive by the damage (e.g. coffee farms will not be able to produce for at least 2 years until new seedlings mature, the crop was destroyed where it stood; most resorts outside SJ are closed, factories await electricity or can’t get raw material due to priorities at ports). This means hundreds of thousands have lost their income, AND the island and town governments have lost their source of revenue. The local treasury may actually go flat out empty in the middle of the emergency just as many individuals exhaust their own resources.
Official source for recovery numbers, www.status.pr Reliable as to strict numbers but of course it may not tell the whole story, you may have 40% of comms service up but it may not be at full bandwidth all the time. And if someone locates the link for the English version you are sharper-eyed than I am.
Have there been any stories about why PR can’t clear the roads themselves? Do they not have the tools, trucks, chipping machines, etc.? I’m sure gas would be an issue, but they should be able to prioritize fuel towards road clearing first.
I suspect that if this degree of end-to-end destruction (vegetation, landslide, bridge washout etc) happened on an insular Vermont they’d have trouble digging out.
Few people that haven’t experienced a cat 5 can imagine that level of destruction.
I recall after Katrina many UK/EU Dopers really took FEMA to task for a slow response in the early days. Not that I’m here to defend FEMA’s overall years-long Katrina response which was, as is now well-documented, a shambles.
When it was pointed out that the impassably flooded area along the Gulf Coast was larger than the island containing England, Scotland, and Wales, the complaints became a little more muted.
Quantity has a quality all its own.
All right, in honor of the Don being in PR, let’s make it all about ME for a moment…
So there was I sitting in the ops center juggling various calls, walk-ins, documents that need to be produced, falling ceiling plaster, etc. and one of the members of my office comes up to me and says: JRD, boss says get ready to ship out to DC. I say, what? He says, what you heard. We’ll find a way to get you out. Later someone from the communications/press team comes over and says, be prepared for a couple of weeks at least, we want you there helping with the DC-level feds and the Congresscritters; pack tonight and stand by.
The next day and a half is a whole series of relying on others arranging my transport while I help arrange that of people with more urgent need to move (people on respirators, elderly, etc.). We have them deadheading on private contractor, military, and civilian relief flights returning empty to the states.
Finally I get a call, get yourself and your bags to Isla Grande. Isla Grande Airport (proper name Fernando L Ribas-Dominicci Airport, after a USAF pilot fallen in the Libya operations in the 80s) was the old pre-1953 San Juan Airport, currently our “executive”/General Aviation airfield…
…and now transformed back into a major airbase/depot. The place swarmed with every kind of aircraft that can take a shorter field - Gulftreams, Falcons, King Airs, DHC’s; C130s, Blackhawks, CH53s, Ospreys. After three hours I am shown my ride for the first stage to Florida, on a flight that brough in relief supplies sent by a church group and was heading back with various relocatees…
*A 1944-vintage DC-3. *
Very nicely maintained and updated but still, a 1944 DC-3.
The dude that arranged this, of course, is already safely out of murder range at this point. But I say to myself, self, this is in my aviation bucket list anyway and what better way to do the whole evacuation experience.
We then sit for 2 hours in the sweltering tarmac with all the aforementioned traffic before taking off for the 5.5 hour flight. Which, may I say, was smoother than some rides I’ve had on Airbuses and Boeings. Rosie riveted a good bird. And the church group folk were some of the sweetest nicest people I’ve met and treated all of us wonderfully. I land at Fort Pierce FL, an Airport In The Middle Of Nowhere. Fortunately there’s family an hour away and they pick me up to spend the night for the flight next morning on a regular airline from West Palm Beach to DC.
So this is how I finally get to be in the national capital to now be a part on the team at this end. And am spared being local during the Great Disruption. So now to see how it works from this side…
:eek:
Gotta admit, I’m a little shocked they are using those for anything other than air shows.
Impressive :). Glad you got there in one piece and got to experience a little bit of history in the process.
Good!
Now that you have reliable power and internet, keep us posted about the relief effort. When/ if you have the time, that is.
I had been thinking the same thing–with chain saws you should be able to cut trees and wooden poles up. But I read an article that one problem is concrete electric poles. You can’t cut these up with chain saws; instead you need bulldozers, etc to move them out of the way.
very cool, I appreciate your sharing with us
The vast majority of Puerto Ricans wouldn’t own one, and many of the fallen trees would be impervious to the average household chainsaw.
I bet they have cleaned to the best of their ability, but really, this is not the kind of cleanup regular people can do.
I can totally understand how the typical resident wouldn’t have the tools necessary to clear toppled trees, but why doesn’t the local government have the equipment and ability? Being on a jungle island in hurricane alley, I would tend to think dealing with lots of fallen trees and washed out roads would be something they experience on a regular basis. Obviously Maria caused a massive amount of destruction, but I didn’t see many stories about the progress they were making.
A similar situation might be when a city gets a massive snowstorm. They may get more snow than they are prepared for, but they are still prepared for snow removal. They have the trucks and salt ready before the storm hits, and then they start cleanup as soon as they can. From the news reports, it would be like if Buffalo, NY got hit by a storm and then they were trying to do cleanup with pickup trucks and shovels.
So was it that the scope of the disaster was much greater than the equipment could handle? Or are they unprepared for disasters in general?