Hurricane Maria devastates the island of Puerto Rico

Rescue workers help someone effected by the storm in Puerto Rico. NBC/Reuters. 

Hurricane Maria has devastated the island of Puerto Rico. NBC News. Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico as a category 4 storm with winds up to 155 mph, but has now weakened to a category 2 storm. Puerto Rico suffered severe damage and power has been knocked out for the majority of the island. There is a chance that parts of the island will be without power for up to six months. The hurricane also devastated the US Virgin Islands, which were also severely damaged by Hurricane Irma. 

My Comment:

This has been a devastating Atlantic Hurricane season, and it isn't over yet. The United States alone has been hit by three major hurricanes, all of which have been hugely powerful storms. First there was the slow moving Hurricane Harvey, that dumped massive amounts of rain onto Texas. Then there was Hurricane Irma that devastated the Caribbean and Florida. Now we have Maria greatly damaging Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

This has been a devastating blow to the United States. We have been relatively lucky in terms of storms. The last major one to hit was Superstorm Sandy. Before that it was Katrina and for the most part we didn't have many storms. Though we have a long history of hurricanes, we got pretty lucky during the Obama years when it came to Hurricanes. 

That run of luck has officially ended. Having three storms hit us in a row is an extreme amount of bad luck. It's also fairly unprecedented. So far Maria has just hit our island territories but our resources have already been stretched thin by the other two hurricanes. 

I also fear that Puerto Rico isn't going to be able to handle this storm. They are already an economic basket case. There was fear for awhile that they would go completely bankrupt. And that was before the whole island was inundated by this storm. They are going to need a whole lot of help, but I fear that most Americans won't care as much about our overseas territory as they do about Texas and Florida. The federal government is going to have to step in and help quite a bit. 

The US Virgin Islands have been devastated as well. In Hurricane Maria, the more southern island, St. Croix, was spared. This time they were not so lucky. Again, I worry that our overseas territories won't get as much support as the rest of the country that have been effected by these storms. On the other hand, the US Virgin Islands is a popular tourist destination so many people know about it and like it. The people I know that have visited have all said it's a great place and many of them are helping out. 

Still, I am wondering how much more we can take in terms of these storms before it starts hurting us economically. We have been in the middle of a fairly good economic recovery but if we keep getting damaged by these storms it could stop that in it's track. Gas prices are already up and the money that is going to this storm recovery is money that could be going to other things. 

Of course, when there is a major disaster like this, we need the government to step in. They have done a good job with the Harvey and Irma recovery operations and I have faith that they will do the same thing with Maria.