Whitefish Energy Holdings workers restore power lines damaged by Hurricane Maria in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico. Credit:AP "There can be no distraction that alters the commitment to repair the power grid as quickly as possible," Rossello said in a statement. He said he was asking Florida and New York for help. The power authority, known as PREPA, and its contractors have only 404 brigades on the island, Rossello said, and the US Army Corps of Engineers has seven. He said he was seeking more than 1000 by November 8. "I have given instructions to immediately proceed with the necessary coordination with the states of Florida and New York, in order for brigades and equipment to arrive on the island," Rossello said.

The Trump administration said it had no involvement in the decision to award a $US300 million contract to help restore Puerto Rico's power grid to a tiny Montana company in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown. Credit:AP The governor said the decision to ask New York and Florida for help was being made because the Army Corps of Engineers had not managed to get the job done in the time frame initially outlined. Power companies traditionally engage power companies from other states for help immediately after emergencies. Ricardo Ramos, chief executive of PREPA, had said that he did not do so in this case, because the power companies were hesitant to commit at first until they were sure where Maria would make landfall. He didn't do so afterward, because by then the Army Corps of Engineers had been tasked with the job. Ricardo Rossello, governor of Puerto Rico, left, speaks as US President Donald Trump listens during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Credit:Bloomberg On Friday, Whitefish said in a statement that it planned to cooperate with any information requests from lawmakers, federal officials "or other appropriate governmental bodies, and look forward to the facts coming to light".

Large areas of the island remain without power more than a month after Maria struck on September 20 as a Category 4 hurricane. In an interview this month, Ramos said he had contracted with Whitefish because the company did not insist on a down payment. Other companies, wary of PREPA's bankruptcy, had demanded hefty sums, he said. It had also been in talks with another company, Power Secure. Asked how a such a small company could take on such a big job, Ramos said, "Every company is small at some point in time." He added that the company had sent a proposal after Hurricane Irma and before Maria, as had other companies. He studied its brochure and was interested in its work in mountainous terrain.

"They told us about the assets, how many helicopters, how many crews," he said. "They told us about their capability and we can increase -- double, triple, quadruple -- the size of the crews and we went ahead and mobilised them." The chief executive of Whitefish Energy, Andy Techmanski, said this month that the company got the contract because he was able to stay in communication with PREPA when other companies could not. He flew to Puerto Rico before the deal was signed on a "leap of faith," he said in an interview this month. "It was more of a scenario we were able to maintain limited communication with PREPA throughout the hurricane where perhaps others were having difficulties," Techmanski said. "We ended up taking a leap of faith to help." Loading "We made a commitment to come here, we stand behind that commitment," he said before Sunday's cancellation.

New York Times