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USN Amphibious Ready Group Arrives in PR on 22 Sept
- Thread starter jer2
- Start date
My understanding is that these groups were already in the area, for Irma. They pulled back during Maria, for the safety of the ships, and then moved back in as soon as possible. I believe that the Virgins as well as Puerto Rico are being helped. There are multiple specialities with the groups, including Medical, SAR, air field reconstruction, temporary Air Traffic Control, as well as landing critical supplies. Also each of these ships have the capacity to supply large amounts of potable drinking water from their desalinators. (My neighbor's son is a forward ATC with a marine expeditionary unit on one of this class ship stationed on the West Coast.) He dropped by a couple of nights ago.
This is the way to "Show the Flag" and do a lot of good!
This is the way to "Show the Flag" and do a lot of good!
spuncopper
New member
Hey Folks,
Gator Freighters rock! They train to not only deliver Marines to foreign shores but also aiding in disaster relief and if necessary evacuating civilians.
Be safe,
Spuncopper
Gator Freighters rock! They train to not only deliver Marines to foreign shores but also aiding in disaster relief and if necessary evacuating civilians.
Be safe,
Spuncopper
journey on
New member
Show the flag? Isn't Puerto Rico a part of the USA? Those people are citizens.
I'm certainly glad the Navy has groups like that and can provide rescue, assistance and whatever else here in the USA.
Boris
I'm certainly glad the Navy has groups like that and can provide rescue, assistance and whatever else here in the USA.
Boris
journey on":ynclm7lh said:Show the flag? Isn't Puerto Rico a part of the USA? Those people are citizens.
Boris
Hi Boris--yes the Puerto Ricans are US Citizens. My post was somewhat tongue in cheek: The US Navy pulled out of Roosevelt Roads Naval Facility, U S Naval Headquarters Southern Command, Naval Air Station and Vieques Island practice range, in Puerto Rico in 2004 after a presence since 1941. The US Navy base had a very large impact on the economy of Puerto Rico, which in the last few years has basically become bankrupt. Currently Puerto Rico is over $125 Billion dollars in debit and had stopped paying its bills about a year ago. The un-employment rate is around 12%. Puerto Rico has a diminishing population, and there is over 21 Billion dollars in welfare yearly sent by the US Government before this catastrophic event. Where are the resources going to come from to rebuild the infrastructure? Insurance? Only 50% of the homes had any wind damage insurance, and less than 1% had flood damage. The total bill of damage is still unknown, but estimated to be in the neighborhood of 60 Billion dollars.
So, Yes, I did absolutely mean "show the flag"--and help the citizens (who kicked the Navy out). No telling when Puerto Rico will recover.
We spent about a month in Fajardo, PR.--hauled the boat to do a bottom job, re-supplied for our basically nonstop 4500 mile trip back to Long Beach In 1986, I didn't consider it a safe town to walk about in night then. I can only imagine that it has become much worse. Because this town, is in a valley, and on the sea, it suffered both storm surge and severe inland flooding from the brunt of the storm.
As of today, only 10 of 69 hospitals on the Island are operational. We don't know the true death toll. Some areas still have not been fully accounted for. The electrical grid was archaic before the storm, and it appears that it will be over 3 months before power is restored to all areas--let alone to all houses. The power company was 9 billion dollars in debt (and bankrupt) before the storm. Fortunately the power plants seem to be operational. Problem is that the grid has to be rebuilt from scratch to do it properly.
journey on
New member
Well, Bob, I was the straight man. I gave you a platform to describe the woes and ills of Puerto Rico. And all I was thinking of was there were citizens of the USA needing help, just like Texas and Florida.
I'm glad that the Navy didn't do an economic assessment, but just stepped in to help.
Boris
I'm glad that the Navy didn't do an economic assessment, but just stepped in to help.
Boris
I have a friend in a nursing home in the SW part of the island, as of two days ago the family in the US and other parts of the island have not been able to get any word about her. A grandson was planning on driving over yesterday to see her, the roads were utterly impassable before. Most of the extended family is doing OK.
Rob,
Our prayers for your family and friends in PR. The problem is multifaceted--as these types are. The blame gets shifted around--supposed to be that there are multiple containers at the port--which need to be delivered--but a true scarcity of truck drivers. Tanker trucks to deliver fuel are exempt from the curfew--but still are accompanied by armed guards to prevent robbery of the fuel.
Boris, i think it is more complicated than what we have to deal with in the US. Here we have lines of hundreds of power company trucks, with all of the materials (including cables, transformers and power poles) lined up and ready to go into the hurricane affected area within a day or less of the storm.
In Puerto Rico all of the material has to arrive by barge or ship. Because of the Jone's Act, shipping was limited to US flagged vessels, with US Crews. (The biggest of those are Crowley Marine--barges--which are slow.) Yesterday the Jone's Act was suspended for Puerto Rico (only American Flagged ships, with American Crews, can travel between US ports, without a stop in a foreign port).
Power company crews have to be flown in--and use what trucks are on the Island, dependent on diesel brought in by barge (or ship)--and then pumped into tanks, which then dispense to tanker trucks to the terminals to fuel those repair trucks. This is just one example.
The worse storm we had was Ivan 135 knot gusts over our home. Over 50% of the houses in our subdivision were badly damaged--and most were not inhabitable. We were fortunate--we had 60 gallons of gas, a 7.5 KW generator, and Natural gas to cook--neighbors brought food, and we had freezer space. We fed and housed those who wanted to stay. Slowly trailers began to appear. We and our neighbors had stockpiled enough food for the 6 weeks until our economy was fully functional. We had "boil water" alert--but we had water.
Contrast with Puerto Rico--my guess is that fewer than a few % had food stockpiled. When we were almost out of fuel, one of the neighbors headed out in his pickup and drove over 50 miles to bring back more fuel, in several 50 gallon drums. Puerto Rico: we see the lines of folks who have 2 and 6 gallon containers, they walked to the service station--which had a generator, so it could pump fuel.
Even worse are like Rob's relatives and friends--the towns are isolated by floods which have washed out the roads. Plus the usual trees down. The whole infra structure is going to have to be rebuilt.
Yes, the Puerto Ricans are like our brothers and sisters--but their recovery is going too far more difficult than those painful recoveries in Texas and Florida.
Until you have lived thru one of these monster storms--you cannot imagine the devastation, and changes it brings to lives. It has been 14 years since Ivan. Just this year, are we finally seeing a number of new homes being built in our area. Many of the lots had homes that were never rebuilt after Ivan. People just moved away.
Boris--thanks for being the straight man, my friend!
Our prayers for your family and friends in PR. The problem is multifaceted--as these types are. The blame gets shifted around--supposed to be that there are multiple containers at the port--which need to be delivered--but a true scarcity of truck drivers. Tanker trucks to deliver fuel are exempt from the curfew--but still are accompanied by armed guards to prevent robbery of the fuel.
Boris, i think it is more complicated than what we have to deal with in the US. Here we have lines of hundreds of power company trucks, with all of the materials (including cables, transformers and power poles) lined up and ready to go into the hurricane affected area within a day or less of the storm.
In Puerto Rico all of the material has to arrive by barge or ship. Because of the Jone's Act, shipping was limited to US flagged vessels, with US Crews. (The biggest of those are Crowley Marine--barges--which are slow.) Yesterday the Jone's Act was suspended for Puerto Rico (only American Flagged ships, with American Crews, can travel between US ports, without a stop in a foreign port).
Power company crews have to be flown in--and use what trucks are on the Island, dependent on diesel brought in by barge (or ship)--and then pumped into tanks, which then dispense to tanker trucks to the terminals to fuel those repair trucks. This is just one example.
The worse storm we had was Ivan 135 knot gusts over our home. Over 50% of the houses in our subdivision were badly damaged--and most were not inhabitable. We were fortunate--we had 60 gallons of gas, a 7.5 KW generator, and Natural gas to cook--neighbors brought food, and we had freezer space. We fed and housed those who wanted to stay. Slowly trailers began to appear. We and our neighbors had stockpiled enough food for the 6 weeks until our economy was fully functional. We had "boil water" alert--but we had water.
Contrast with Puerto Rico--my guess is that fewer than a few % had food stockpiled. When we were almost out of fuel, one of the neighbors headed out in his pickup and drove over 50 miles to bring back more fuel, in several 50 gallon drums. Puerto Rico: we see the lines of folks who have 2 and 6 gallon containers, they walked to the service station--which had a generator, so it could pump fuel.
Even worse are like Rob's relatives and friends--the towns are isolated by floods which have washed out the roads. Plus the usual trees down. The whole infra structure is going to have to be rebuilt.
Yes, the Puerto Ricans are like our brothers and sisters--but their recovery is going too far more difficult than those painful recoveries in Texas and Florida.
Until you have lived thru one of these monster storms--you cannot imagine the devastation, and changes it brings to lives. It has been 14 years since Ivan. Just this year, are we finally seeing a number of new homes being built in our area. Many of the lots had homes that were never rebuilt after Ivan. People just moved away.
Boris--thanks for being the straight man, my friend!