Just looked at CNN’s home page–there’s no real indication that millions of American citizens are without power or fresh water. Disgraceful. You have minor stories about Clinton denouncing the administration’s response or lack thereof and about the dam, because an entroubulated dam is evidently worth attention in a way millions of people in desperate straits are not.
As bad as Harvey was to Houston, we’re largely intact and don’t have many of the artificial barriers (Jones Act) to recovery that Puerto Rico has. Our industries are restarting and we didn’t lose our green canopy (although much is still covered in muck). This story is why I don’t complain about the minor inconvenience of having debris still stacked along my street.
Pure insanity. Migrations will likely begin. I expect most Puerto Ricans will seek locations with family and existing Puerto Rican communities within the US. However, it would be sweet revenge if they decided to settle far from the oceans in states like North or South Dakota, Wyoming, or Idaho. It would be amusing to not only have one or more of these states become bilingual overnight, but it could swing the electoral fortunes of the Senate for a generation (Senator Martinez D-ID would be pretty great). Idaho could ironically become the staunchest defender and voice of Puerto Rico in the US government.
Fantasy bullshit aside, this is going to get bad. No electricity leads to sewage issues, which leads to cholera and/or dysentery, Preventable deaths will increase, so those that can get out, will. New York, Florida, and New Jersey should expect a few more citizens.
There should be at least a one year waiver of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico and the USVI.
This after Hurricane Goldman set them back a century: