Posted on 09/27/2017 10:31:48 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
El Coquí, the one-inch musical tree frog that is Puerto Rico’s cultural icon, has more common sense than the island’s public officials. When rising temperatures made the coast inhabitable and caused the extinction of many of their species, the survivors moved up to the mountains, where it was cooler.
Meanwhile, nearly 70 percent of the island’s human population and all of its power plants are still on Puerto Rico’s coast.
This raises two questions. Why didn’t island officials, like Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, prepare for a disaster they knew was coming? And how did Puerto Rico spend several hundred million dollars in US taxpayer-funded FEMA grants?
The end of the tree frog’s nightly concert was just the first sign of looming catastrophe.
When I visited the island in 2013 after a decade’s absence, the first thing I noticed was the virtual disappearance of the wide beaches for which Puerto Rico was once famous. According to the US Geological Survey, they were washing away at a rate of 3.3 feet per year.
Then in 2013 came a more prosaic warning in the form of a report from the Puerto Rican Climate Change Council and the USGS. It stated: “It is no longer a question of whether the coasts of Puerto Rico and many port cities in the Caribbean will be inundated, but rather, it is a question of when and by how much.”
But history itself should’ve served as warning enough. Between 1956 and 1996, there were 12 disaster declarations from hurricanes and flooding in Puerto Rico. Over the last 20 years there have been 15. FEMA has provided nearly a billion dollars in disaster relief to Puerto Rico since 1998.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
more then just corrupt, way overly generous gov pension system caused not just the 72bill unpayable debt but the destruction of all but biopharma jobs. Maria took care of biopharma. If I remember correctly 20yr of work for 100% pension. Basically PR has become an old folks home, all the kids flee to Miami or NYC to find jobs.
Shh...I could host a prepper thread .My point was the differences in people’s preparedness and how they vary.
Of course if all your supplies are destroyed along with your home....
Taiwan is no stranger to natural disasters. PR and their left-leaning government got complacent when they knew the possibilities.
I could see that happening in a sudden event like an earthquake or a tornado. A hurricane, otoh, gives plenty of warning. Trump had relief waiting in advance but it appears many of the islanders just waited it out expecting the government to help them.
That’s what many on the Left are programmed to do....wait for the FedGov to help.
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