Politics

White House Defends Puerto Rico Hurricane Response On 1-Year Anniversary

REUTERS/Leah Millis

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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The White House released a detailed fact sheet Thursday of its disaster relief efforts to two hurricanes last year which hit the island of Puerto Rico.

“The Federal response to Hurricane Maria marked the largest and longest federal response to a disaster in the history of the United States,” the White House said in its statement. “ONE YEAR LATER: Significant progress has been made over the last year to help Puerto Rico recover following the devastation of Hurricane Maria.”

The fact sheet included detailed statistics on the amount of money allocated toward relief operations and efforts to restore Puerto Rico’s lagging infrastructure.

Puerto Rico’s entire electrical grid failed following Hurricane Maria, but today power has been restored to 99.99 percent of customers able to receive an electrical connection,” they noted.

President Donald Trump has insisted in recent days that a new death toll account of approximately 3,000 in the aftermath of the Hurricane is inaccurate. The 3,000 number emanates from a George Washington University study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government, though it has been disputed by some federal officials.