President Biden to visit Puerto Rico to survey hurricane damage
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WABC) -- President Biden and First lady Jill Biden are set to travel to Puerto Rico Monday to survey damage from Hurricane Fiona.
Hurricane Fiona slammed into Puerto Rico's southwest region as a Category 1 storm Sept. 18.
Preliminary evaluations show Hurricane Fiona damaged 50% of transmission lines and distribution feeders across Puerto Rico as hundreds of thousands remain without power or water service almost two weeks after the storm hit, officials said Thursday.
The announcement came as a major power plant in Puerto Rico was knocked offline and began to spew heavy black smoke in the latest setback to efforts to stabilize the U.S. territory's power grid.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said crews were working swiftly to restore essential services but stressed that he was not satisfied that more than 270,000 clients out of 1.47 million were without power and more than 100,000 clients out of 1.2 million without water service.
The situation has angered and exasperated many who already were affected by power outages blamed on Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that razed the island's power grid in September 2017.
President Biden says he wants to survey the damage in-person.
Biden also plans to visit Florida on Wednesday.
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
