The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, expressed her heartfelt concerns amid tears when she discussed the current state of the U.S. territory as residents begin to continue to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Maria devastated their island as a Category 4 hurricane last week.
“I know that leaders aren’t supposed to cry and especially not on TV, but we are having a humanitarian crisis,” Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said in an interview on WUSA-9. “And we’re doing all we can.”
“And the worst fear is that we cannot get to everyone in time,” she added. Additionally, she expressed sentiments in an earlier interview that island officials needed to act because people were losing their lives.
“It’s life or death; every moment we spend planning in a meeting or every moment we spend just not getting the help we’re supposed to get, people are starting to die,” Cruz said in a separate interview with CBS News on Tuesday.
San Juan’s mayor gets emotional: “I know leaders are not supposed to cry, but we are having an humanitarian crisis here.” #OffScriptOn9 pic.twitter.com/3bXmO4aRc3
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) September 26, 2017
Large swaths of the U.S. territory still does not have power and officials have said the service may not return for another four to six months in some areas. Meanwhile, food, water, and gas are becoming scarce.
Cruz said some people have been without food or water for 14 days and that the situation is especially grave because Hurricane Irma had swept through the island just two weeks prior.
President Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, first responders, and the military are being sent to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to assist those recovering from the aftermath of the storms.
Trump plans to visit both islands next week. White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert arrived in Puerto Rico on Monday.
