Brock Long, director of operations for FEMA, has “filtered out” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz and her crusade with President Trump in regards to the hurricane relief for Puerto Rico.
“We filtered out the mayor a long time ago. We don’t have time for the political noise,” Long said. “The bottom line is, is that we are making progress every day in conjunction with the governor.”
“Rebuilding, rebuilding Puerto Rico is going to be a greater conversation for the Congress in conjunction with the governor on … what the way forward is in the future of Puerto Rico,” Long continued.
According to Brock Long, FEMA is around 85% deployed in all servicing territories that have been affected by the recent weather disasters.
Though they are seemingly “strapped” according to Long, Congress has recently approved $6.7 billion temporary budget increase to help extend the reach of FEMA.
The San Huan Mayor has been very critical of FEMA and the Trump administration since the hurricane passed. Speaking in several interviews, posting to Twitter, and much more.
“Power collapses in San Juan hospital with 4 patients now being transferred out. Have requested support from FEMA. NOTHING! … The Hospital had requested support from FEMA and no response. Oh sorry they are collecting data…” she’s stated.
“If there is a power failure at a hospital, which we’ve seen two over this past week, we’re actually life-flighting the ICU patients out of those hospitals and onto the USNS Comfort,” a Navy hospital ship currently supporting the island, Long said. Navy press releases confirm the island has received a total of nine critical patients from Puerto Rico hospitals after they experienced power failures.
It’s not clear whether the most recent Navy-reported hospital power failure, on Saturday, is the one Cruz was referring to in her tweets; that evacuation happened at Hospital Menonita in Caguas, about 20 miles from San Juan.
https://youtu.be/59-7KNlhvy0