It took months to restore electricity in Puerto Rico after hurricanes dealt a one-two punch. Rather than advise Puerto Rico to accept aid from the mainland utilities, FEMA abruptly called in the Army Corps of Engineers — never mind that the corps had never rebuilt a major grid after a storm and by its own account had not made preparations to take on the task in Puerto Rico. “The system that we have up now in Puerto Rico is vulnerable to a hurricane, and it’s going to happen again,” said Rolando Ortiz Velázquez, the mayor of Cayey and head of the Mayors Association of Puerto Rico. Luis Muñoz Marín, the activist who became the island’s first elected governor in 1948, built up the grid and made it the industrial pride of Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, that meant recreating electrical components that gave the impression of a time capsule from the 1950s and ’60s.

Source: New York Times May 06, 2018 09:00 UTC