FEMA Sends 30-Day Water Trailers to Puerto Rico as 180,000 Households Face 48-Hour Cutoffs
Updated
Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 10
FEMA Sends 30-Day Water Trailers to Puerto Rico as 180,000 Households Face 48-Hour Cutoffs
3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 10
Summary
FEMA will provide water trailers to Puerto Rico for an initial 30 days after the island requested federal help to distribute potable water in drought-hit communities.
More than 180,000 households are already under rotating 48-hour shutoffs and rationing, with outages affecting parts of San Juan and several nearby municipalities.
Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon declared an emergency on July 31 and said Puerto Rico has activated an interagency municipal support plan, while public housing complexes get community cisterns and firefighters help deliver water.
Record heat and extreme dryness are driving the crisis: July was San Juan's driest month in more than 120 years, nearly 25% of Puerto Rico was in severe drought as of Aug. 4, and another 36% faced moderate drought.