Puerto Rico braces for Tropical Storm Ernesto : NPR

Tropical Storm Ernesto is expected to pass over Puerto Rico late Tuesday night, which could bring flooding, landslides and power outages. The island has closed schools and opened shelters.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Just days after Tropical Storm Debby drenched the southeastern U.S., a new tropical storm – Ernesto – battered the northeast Caribbean today. It is now taking aim at Puerto Rico, where officials have closed schools, opened shelters and activated the National Guard. They are warning of heavy rain, possible flooding, mudslides, power outages. I’m joined now by NPR’s Adrian Florido, who is there in Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan. Hey, Adrian.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.

KELLY: OK. Tell us more about what officials there are bracing for and when.

FLORIDO: Well, Ernesto is expected to reach the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this evening, and the storm’s center is set to pass just off Puerto Rico’s northeastern coast. Here is Governor Pedro Pierluisi earlier today.

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PEDRO PIERLUISI: The peak of this storm, in terms of wind damage, will be at midnight this evening, but there will be a lot of rain.

FLORIDO: We’re talking, Mary Louise, about sustained wind speeds upwards of 50 miles an hour and up to 6 inches of rain that could fall over the next day, with some communities on the island getting up to 10 inches possible, which is a ton of rain that is likely to cause serious flooding, and in some rural mountainous communities, mudslides. Ocean conditions, officials say, are also expected to be very dangerous.

KELLY: OK. So the peak expected around midnight tonight. What are…

FLORIDO: Yeah.

KELLY: …People doing to prepare?

FLORIDO: Well, the governor has activated the National Guard, as you said. In communities prone to flooding, the government has opened up shelters. On the east coast, it’s suspended ferry service to the smaller islands of the Puerto Rican archipelago. It also canceled the start of the school year. Today was supposed to be the first day of classes at public schools. Officials are also prepositioning emergency supplies across the island. And they say that they have, very importantly, been making sure that critical facilities like hospitals, nursing homes and water pumps are connected to backup generators in case of power outages.

KELLY: Say more about that last point about the power outages because we hear all the time about Puerto Rico’s fragile power grid. Is it expected to hold up?

FLORIDO: You know, Mary Louise, two months ago, a tree branch on a single line knocked out power to 300,000 customers. So it does not take much in Puerto Rico for the power to go out. The grid is so dilapidated that power outages are common even on, you know, bright blue, cloudless days. So even though winds are not expected to be the greatest threat from Tropical Storm Ernesto, the island’s power utility has said that prolonged outages are possible and even likely. The grid is not modern enough to always detect power outages either. So the electric utility is asking people to report them.

KELLY: And why, Adrian? Why is the grid there in such bad shape?

FLORIDO: Well, you know, it was neglected for decades, and it’s also still so vulnerable nearly seven years after Hurricane Maria destroyed it in 2017. The government promised after that storm to strengthen the grid, but that just hasn’t happened. LUMA Energy, the private utility which took over the grid a couple of years ago, has also not kept up with the overgrown vegetation that puts a lot of lines at risk. This is all stuff that people in Puerto Rico are really angry about, and increasingly so. Today I spoke with Oscar Ferre. He was waiting to catch a bus before they stopped running.

OSCAR FERRE: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: He said there’s generalized frustration over the power situation among people, but when storms approach, people kind of have to resign themselves to the near certainty of an outage and cope with it however they can, whether that is with backup generators or, in his case, candles and fresh batteries in his flashlight.

KELLY: And real quick, where is the storm expected to go after Puerto Rico?

FLORIDO: It’s expected to continue strengthening as it takes a turn and begins traveling north through the Atlantic. It could strengthen into a hurricane. And meteorologists are saying it’s not likely to affect the mainland United States, but they’re keeping an eye on the Bermuda Islands, which could be in the storm’s path.

KELLY: NPR’s Adrian Florido getting ready to ride out that storm there in San Juan. Thanks, Adrian.

FLORIDO: Thank you, Mary Louise.

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