This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Large amounts of federal aid began moving into Puerto Rico on Saturday, as the island tried to recover from a battering by hurricane Maria. Local officials praised the Trump administration’s response but also called for the emergency loosening of rules long blamed for condemning the US territory to second-class economic status.

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In the north-west of the island, people began returning to their homes after a spillway eased pressure on a dam that cracked after more than 1ft of rain fell in the wake of the hurricane. Though water continued to pour out of rain-swollen Lake Guajataca, the dam had not burst by Saturday night.

Upstream of the towns of Quebradillas and Isabela, the state of the dam had prompted stern official warnings from Governor Ricardo Rossello and the US National Weather Service (NWS). Federal officials said Friday that 70,000 people would have to be evacuated, although Javier Jimenez, mayor of the nearby town of San Sebastian, said he believed the number was far smaller. Secretary of Public Affairs Ramon Rosario said about 300 families were in harm’s way.

The NWS extended a flash flood watch for communities along the rain-swollen Guajataca River until 2pm local time on Sunday. If the dam failed, the NWS warned, the flooding would be life-threatening. “Stay away or be swept away,” it said.

The governor said there was “significant damage” to the dam and authorities believed it could give way at any moment. “We don’t know how long it’s going to hold,” Rossello said. “The integrity of the structure has been compromised in a significant way.”

Some residents nonetheless returned to their homes on Saturday as water levels in the reservoir began to sink. “There were a lot of people worried and crying, but that’s natural, because the reservoir was about to break through,” said Maria Nieves, 43. “They couldn’t open the spillway until later in the night.”

The 345-yard dam, which was built around 1928, holds back a man-made lake covering about two square miles. More than 15in of rain from Maria fell on the surrounding mountains.

The aid effort quickened with the opening of the island’s main port in the capital, San Juan, allowing 11 ships to bring in 1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000 cots, dozens of generators and food. Dozens more shipments are expected in upcoming days.

The federal aid effort is racing to stem a growing crisis in towns left without water, fuel, electricity or phone service. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) said they would take satellite phones to all of Puerto Rico’s towns and cities, more than half of which were cut off.

The island’s infrastructure was in sorry shape long before Maria struck. A $73bn debt crisis has left agencies like the state power company broke. As a result the power company abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts.

A federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances authorized up to $1bn in local funds to be used for hurricane response, but Governor Rossello said he would ask for more.

“We’re going to request waivers and other mechanisms so Puerto Rico can respond to this crisis,” he said. “Puerto Rico will practically collect no taxes in the next month.”

Play Video 0:25 Puerto Rico: dam wall cracks on Lake Guajataca - video

US representative Nydia Velazquez of New York said she would request a one-year waiver from the Jones Act, a federal law blamed for driving up prices on Puerto Rico by requiring cargo shipments to move only on US vessels as a means of supporting the US maritime industry.

“We will use all our resources,” Velazquez said. “We need to make Puerto Rico whole again. These are American citizens.”

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Rossello said Maria would clearly cost more than the last major storm to hit the island, Hurricane George in September 1998. “This is without a doubt the biggest catastrophe in modern history for Puerto Rico,” he said.



Rossello and other officials praised the federal government for planning its response before the storm hit, a contrast with what Puerto Rico has long seen as the neglect of 3.4 million Americans in a territory without a vote in Congress or the electoral college.

“This is the first time we get this type of federal coordination,” said Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative in Washington.

Officials said 1,360 of the island’s 1,600 cellphone towers were down, and 85% of above-ground and underground phone and internet cables were knocked out. With roads blocked and phones dead, officials said, the situation may worsen.

At least 31 lives in all have been lost around the Caribbean due to Maria, including at least 15 on hard-hit Dominica. Haiti reported three deaths; Guadeloupe two; and the Dominican Republic one.

Across Puerto Rico, more than 15,000 people were in shelters, including some 2,000 rescued from the north coastal town of Toa Baja. Many Puerto Ricans planned to head to the mainland to temporarily escape the devastation.