Puerto Rico: 1 million Americans without drinking water
The US government says it is committed to helping Puerto Rico but is confronted with challenging circumstances  including some roads that are narrow  muddied and impassable for large aid-delivery vehicles. There also are pre-existing problems with power and water systems. Puerto Rico is "an island sitting in the middle of an ocean ... a very big ocean " as  President Donald Trump  said on September 26  making Hurricane Maria more distant than two other recent storms that hit the US mainland  Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
But  President Donald Trump  already is emphasizing the finite nature of federal attention.
"We cannot keep FEMA  the Military & the First Responders  who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!"  Trump  tweeted on October 12.
Carmen Rivera Rodriguez  a 55-year-old resident of "P.R. " didn't see that tweet. She has heard next to nothing about  Trump  or the federal response to this storm. When we met outside a supermarket in ComerÃ­o  about 20 miles southeast of Sostre and his American flag  she told me she hasn't even been able to reach her son in the mainland United States because there's virtually no cellular service here -- 75% of antennas are down -- and she doesn't have a car.
The same week  Trump  visited Puerto Rico  throwing paper towels to hurricane victims on October 3  Rivera told me she heard a truck driving by her home with loudspeakers blaring what seemed like good news: US government workers would be in town tomorrow.
The US government says it is committed to helping Puerto Rico but is confronted with challenging circumstances  including some roads that are narrow  muddied and impassable for large aid-delivery vehicles. There also are pre-existing problems with power and water systems. Puerto Rico is "an island sitting in the middle of an ocean ... a very big ocean " as   [TGT] said on September 26  making Hurricane Maria more distant than two other recent storms that hit the US mainland  Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
But   [TGT] already is emphasizing the finite nature of federal attention.
"We cannot keep FEMA  the Military & the First Responders  who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever! [TGT] tweeted on October 12.
Carmen Rivera Rodriguez  a 55-year-old resident of "P.R. " didn't see that tweet. She has heard next to nothing about   [TGT] or the federal response to this storm. When we met outside a supermarket in ComerÃ­o  about 20 miles southeast of Sostre and his American flag  she told me she hasn't even been able to reach her son in the mainland United States because there's virtually no cellular service here -- 75% of antennas are down -- and she doesn't have a car.
The same week   [TGT] visited Puerto Rico  throwing paper towels to hurricane victims on October 3  Rivera told me she heard a truck driving by her home with loudspeakers blaring what seemed like good news: US government workers would be in town tomorrow.