It’s been more than a month since Hurricane Maria slammed into the island of Puerto Rico, but the devastation is still widespread. The clean-up and recovery efforts are proceeding slowly, with much of the island still resembling a war zone, as evidenced by startling new aerial footage that the National Weather Service posted to YouTube on Tuesday.
Debris, downed and denuded trees, and rows of leveled buildings are visible in the video, which hops around the island. The footage underscores the fact that no part of the island was spared.
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We’ve heard for weeks that Puerto Rico’s recovery has lagged. As of Wednesday, 75 percent of the island was still without power, and safe drinking water was still a limited resource. This is why these images are so important: they drive home just how long the recovery will take, and how much help is needed.
On Tuesday, a handful of the island’s schools reopened even as many lacked power, a sign of the people of Puerto Rico striving for normality in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.
But the road ahead is long and will require far more assistance before the situation really does return to “normal.”