News and Media: Disaster 4339

The sanitary trunk main that serves the communities of Vistamar, Los Angeles and Loíza Pueblo, in Carolina and Loíza, respectively, is already in the construction stages following an allocation of about $8.2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This system, essential for transporting wastewater, will be rebuilt with an innovative system that will provide a useful life of at least 50 years to the pipes that carry wastewater to the treatment plants.

According to the Puerto Rico Planning Board, floods on the island represent billions in losses and put at risk some 200,000 residences located in flood-prone areas. To reduce the effects of these natural events, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is working on 35 projects with an investment of $122 million.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved over $5.7 million for this and other waterfronts (known as malecón in Spanish) and boardwalks to repair structures damaged by Hurricane María.

Puerto Rico’s Cordillera Central and the public roads that connect the 15 municipalities that are part of it have received —to date— obligations totaling over $672 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to repair bridges and roads in the area. These roads are a key element for the safe transportation of residents and for the small businesses that surround this area of touristic and cultural value.

The facilities that house the Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center in Ponce, the Caguana Ceremonial Indigenous Center in Utuado and the Ceremonial Park Cueva del Indio in Las Piedras, three areas of great archaeological and historical value in Puerto Rico, received an obligation of nearly $1.6 million from the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) to repair damage caused by Hurricane María.