Communications are still down over most of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria tore over the island last week, taking out most cell towers and Wi-Fi hot spots, the Associated Press reports.
Residents have been trying to contact friends and family in the U.S. and other parts of the island for days, jamming free Wi-Fi hotspots and driving for hours to find enough signal for a phone call.
“There’s no communication. We’re in God’s hands,” kitchen worker Yesenia Gomez told the AP.
President Donald Trump has pledged federal aid to the decimated communities and plans to visit Puerto Rico next Tuesday, after concerns over the island’s infrastructure have been addressed, CNN reports.
Guajataca Dam, severely damaged during Maria, is in critical condition. Residents in the area are being evacuated slowly since emergency workers are forced to go door to door to warn people in danger.
“Some of the dam has fallen apart,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said, according to CNN. “Now we are making sure that we can assess if the other part will fall down as well. It represents a great danger for about an estimated 70,000 people.”
The White House has pushed back against claims that President Donald Trump is not paying enough attention to the crisis in Puerto Rico.
“The federal response has been anything but slow,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “There’s been an unprecedented push through of billions of dollars in federal assistance.”
Opponents have slammed the president over his recent tweets concerning NFL protests, saying the comments distract from Puerto Rico’s situation.
“At the same time that he was doing all of that, we had American citizens in Puerto Rico who are in a desperate condition,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday, according to The Washington Post.
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