President Donald Trump has stated that he will travel to the battered island of Puerto Rico on Tuesday.
Explaining to reporters in the Oval Office that Tuesday is the earliest date he could reach the location, first responders ongoing relief and recovery efforts are in place.
“I know many Puerto Ricans, and they’re great people and we have to help them. It really was devastated. Some people say, I read it this morning, it’s literally destroyed,” he said, “The infrastructure was in bad shape as you know in Puerto Rico before the storm, and now in many cases, it has no infrastructure, so it’s, you’re really starting from almost scratch.”
Touting the FEMA relief efforts currently occurring, Trump also explained the difficulty in recovery for Puerto Rico noting its geography as a challenging factor.
“It’s very tough because it’s an island. In Texas, we can ship the trucks right out there, you know, we’ve got A-pluses on Texas and Florida and we will also on Puerto Rico, but the difference is this is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean, and it’s a big ocean, it’s a very big ocean, and I think we’re doing a really good job.”
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Trump has vowed that federal assistance is on its way to Puerto Rico, commenting on the need for food and water.
“Thank you to Carmen Yulín Cruz, the Mayor of San Juan, for your kind words on FEMA etc. We are working hard. Much food and water there/on way,” he wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning, those kind words being stated by Yulín Cruz as she appeared on CNN’s “New Day.”
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last week wiping out buildings and creating massive strain on a dam that puts downstream residents at complete risk. Millions are currently without power and are living their lives in a state of paranoid fear. Trump will visit Tuesday and hopefully pledge to remedy more a location that has been so badly decimated.
