“Lands are saturated, rivers are overgrown, areas are flooded areas, and streets are still impassable,” Bonilla Colón said. “Please stay safe and consider the first responders and rescue personnel who have done a titanic job to save lives.”
Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers — two thirds of the total on the island — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, according to officials. Only 34% of households have potable water.
“The majority of rivers are too high. We have 112 filtration plants and the majority are supplied by rivers,” Aqueduct and Sewer Authority executive president Doriel Pagán Crespo said in an interview with a San Juan radio station. She said personnel will be dispatched for cleanup as water levels drop.
“We have our personnel activated, we haven’t stopped working … we’ll keep working,” Pagán Crespo said.
“These rains will continue to produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico,” said Brad Reinhart, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, adding that “life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic.”
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