Houston = culture of self reliance; people helping people
Puerto Rico = culture of dependency; helpless without government
It’s very difficult to work your tail off for people unwilling to do what they themselves are capable of doing but ‘expect’ others to do it for them.
Puerto Rico was a economic disaster long before these storms and people were already leaving in drives for that. Last number I read was 800,000 had already left the Island because of how bad things were there before the storms.