the after math of the hurricane on Puerto Rico and why every American needs to know what has happened to Puerto Rico- Joaquin Sanchez

                                   Why every American needs to know about Puerto Rico’s hurricane disaster.

                On September 20^th, Hurricane Maria, which is a Category 5 hurricane with 150 mph winds, landed right over Puerto Rico. Leaving the Island with feet of rain, no power, no water to drink, and no water to bathe in or to flush toilets. There’s a complicated relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. Here is why every American Should know about what has happened to Puerto Rico.

There is 3.4 million US citizens live in Puerto Rico, and they are entitled to the same government response as any state. Puerto Ricans have been citizens of the United States since 1917, when President Woodrow signed the Jones-Shafroth Act. Puerto Ricans can travel to between the United States and the Puerto Rico without a passport. They are protected by the same Bill of Rights as any other United States citizen born in the United States. So they should be protected like any other U.S. property.

Hurricane Maria was about a 50 mph wide tornado that took a direct hit on the island. There are many people living on the island. If Puerto Rico were a state, it would the 30^th most populated, having more people than Wyoming, Vermont and Alaska combined.  So if a Category 5 hurricane has a direct hit to a very populated place, there is going to be heavy damage. Hurricane Irma left 1 million people without any power in Puerto Rico.  Then by the time Hurricane Maria hit, 60,000 people were still without electricity. Which means many people on the island haven’t had power in 20 days! By not having power and have a major flooding can be dangerous to somebodies health especially children. “It was as 50-to-60 mile-wide tornado raged across Puerto Rico, like a buzz saw” Jeff Weber, who is a meteorologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, says.” It is almost as strong as a hurricane can get in a direct hit.” By record books, it was the fifth-strongest storm ever to hit the United States, and the strongest hurricane/storm to hit the island in 80 years.

Food, water, and fuel are scarce on the island. The airports are just a mess. Power will be out for several months in some places. There is not an estimate for damages and cost of repairs on the island are not yet known.  Mainly because many of Puerto Rico’s roads are heavy damaged making it hard to get around. We need to help Puerto Rico with food, clean water, and clothes to keep warm. There are photos showing whole communities with their roofs to their houses torn off, water flooding the streets, and people resorting to waiting in long lines for clean water and fuel. In many reports, the word “apocalyptic” is used often.

This are why Americans should know the disaster that has and is happening to Puerto Rico. We need to pull together and help people survive through this horrible disaster. They are Americans just like us, so we should treat them as such by giving resources to them. It is wrong to deprive a person with water, food, and shelter, something that ALL living people need. The author of this article is Brian Resnick and Eliza Barclay.  Brian Resnick works for Vox, and previously worked for, National Journal, The Atlantic, and the New Journal. He went to get his education at University of Delaware.  Eliza Barclay oversees Vox.com's health, science, energy, and environment coverage. Formerly, she was a reporter and editor at NPR, and most recently edited the food blog, The Salt. This article was posted on September 26, 2017 at 5:20 pm. I already knew about Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico, but I did not know the gravity of the damage the Maria left. The main audience is the United States citizens. This article was written so that American citizens to know what Hurricane Maria left, and that we should help and get our government to help Puerto Rico.  The main idea is to show American citizens how bad Puerto Rico is right now and how Hurricane Maria left. This article is very important because this affects people’s lives, which is one of the most important things in the world. I can connect this story to Hurricane Irma, because Hurricane Irma also hit Puerto Rico. Which also affects people’s lives, and destroyed a lot of the island.




https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/26/16365994/hurricane-maria-2017-puerto-rico-san-juan-humanitarian-disaster-electricty-fuel-flights-facts