A family shelter is being powered by its fourth generator because electricity still hasn’t been restored. A children’s hospital is struggling to stay open because donations have dried up. Blue tarps dot the landscape in the mountains because many families have yet to rebuild storm-ravaged homes.
Those are some of the scenes members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation witnessed during a trip to Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September.
“There was a lot of attention on Puerto Rico right after the storm but now it’s dropped out of the headlines,’’ said US Senator Elizabeth Warren, who led the visit. “The people in Puerto Rico are still dealing with the fallout.’’
The group flew to the island Thursday and spent Friday meeting with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, touring storm damage in a helicopter and visiting a children’s hospital, family shelter, and community health center. They also met with Massachusetts State Police troopers who are helping with the recovery efforts.
US Senator Edward J. Markey and US Representatives Richard Neal, Michael Capuano, Seth Moulton, Niki Tsongas, Katherine Clark, and Jim McGovern also made the trip.
Warren, Markey, and Neal said they plan to use what they learned to advocate for Puerto Rico to receive more disaster aid when Congress debates a spending plan. A package must be passed by Jan. 19 to avoid a government shutdown.
“They deserve more than someone giving them a few rolls of paper towels and forgetting them,’’ Warren said, referring to when President Trump tossed paper towels to hurricane survivors during his visit in October. “The need is great, and the response from our federal government has been too little too late.’’
In October, Trump approved a $36.5 billionaid measure to help Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas recover from a series of hurricanes. The package also included funds to combat wildfires in Western states.
Warren and US Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, introduced legislation in November that would create a $146 billion recovery plan for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Markey said seeing Americans struggle in Puerto Rico was demoralizing. He called for an oversight process to examine how the Trump administration mismanaged recovery efforts.
“Nowhere in our country would this be acceptable and the recovery efforts, or lack of efforts, from President Trump fall far short of the dignity Puerto Ricans deserve,’’ Markey said in a statement. “Congress must pass an immediate aid package that ramps up our efforts dramatically.’’
FEMA representatives told the group power has been restored to 60 percent of the island, though the electric grid is operating at only 10 percent of capacity, said Neal, a Springfield Democrat. Officials plan to restore 90 percent of electricity by March, he said.
Capuano, a Somerville Democrat, said Puerto Rico’s grid draws much of its power from the southern part of the island, though most residents live in the north. Transmission lines run through mountains in Puerto Rico’s center, and some areas are hard to reach, he said.
Moulton, a Salem Democrat, said the trip gave him a better sense of what is needed to improve relief efforts.
“The bigger and, ultimately more important question, is how we avoid having natural disasters like this become such grave, long-term human disasters in the future,’’ he said.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com.
