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WEBVTT SO FAR, NO REQUESTS TO RETURNNEARLY 20 YEARS LATER.THE POWER SYSTEM IS DECIMATEDrtACROSS PUERTO RICO, PLUNGINGCITIES AND SMALL COMMUNITIESINTO WHAT THE MAYOR OF SAN JUANCALLS A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS.>> YOU CAN TOUCH AND YOU CANFEEL THE LIFE JUST COMING OUT OFrtPEOPLE.REPORTER: TODAY FEMA SAID IT'SCOORDINATING A FEDERAL RESPONSEOF MORE THAN 10,000 PERSONNEL TOPUERTO RICO AND THE U.S. VIRGINrtISLANDS, SAYING NAVY AND COASTGUARD SHIPS ARE THERE, MORE ONTHE WAY, CARGO FLIGHTS ANDBARGES BRINGING IN SUPPLIES, ANDrtTHE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERSASSIGNED POWER RESTORATION,SAYING IT WON'T BE FULLYRESTORED FOR MORE THAN A MONTHrt.>> TO BASICALLY TAKE OVERSIGHTAND MANAGEMENT OF NOT ONLY THEEMERGENCY POWER RESTORATION, BUTALSO THE INITIAL PART OFREBUILDING THE ENTIRE GRID.rt>> TO GET EQUIPMENT, TRUCKS,POLES, WIRES, YOU ARE EITHERGOING TO FLY IT IN OR BARGE ITIN.REPORTER: EVERSOURCE FIELDOPERATIONS DIRECTOR MARCGEAUMONT JUST RETURNrtED FROMFLORIDA WHERE CREWS HELPEDRESTORE POWER AFTER THEHURRICANE IRMA.HE SAYS CREWS COULD HAVE TOREBUILD THE ENTIRE GRID FROMSCRATCH.rt>> YOU HAVE TO HAVE BOOTS ON THEGROUND TO SEE THE DAMAGE SEEWHAT KIND OF EQUIPMENT YOU ARErtWORKING WITH, AND IS THEREANYTHING YOU CAN RESTORE THEPOWER TO?REPORTER: EVERSOURCE SAID ITWOULD CONSIDER ANY REQUEST TODEPLOY TO PUERTO RICO

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Nearly 3.5 million Americans living in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico remain without power and are facing food and water shortages after Hurricane Maria.Eversource crews from New Hampshire deployed to Puerto Rico to help restore power after a hurricane in 1998, but so far, no request for the company to return has been made following this hurricane nearly 20 years later.Across the island, the power system is decimated, plunging cities and small communities into what San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz calls a humanitarian crisis.“You can touch and you can feel the life just coming out of people,” Cruz said.On Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is coordinating a federal response of more than 10,000 personnel to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, saying the Navy and Coast Guard ships are there with more on the way, and cargo flights and barges are bringing in supplies.The Army Corps of Engineers has been assigned power restoration, but power won’t be fully restored for more than a month.“To basically take oversight and management of not only the emergency power restoration, but also the initial part of rebuilding the entire grid,” said FEMA administrator Brock Long.“To get equipment, trucks, poles, wires, you are either going to fly it in or barge it in,” said Eversource field operations director Marc Geaumont.Geaumont just returned from Florida, where crews helped restore power after Hurricane Irma. He said crews might have to rebuild the entire grid from scratch.“You have to have boots on the ground to see the damage, see what kind of equipment you are working with, and is there anything you can restore the power to?” Geaumont said.Eversource said it would consider any request to deploy to Puerto Rico.