FEMA Chief: 'We Filtered Out' San Juan Mayor 'A Long Time Ago'
Credit: Mediaite
Original Article | Author: Daniel Chaitin
Federal Emergency Management Agency head Brock Long said Sunday that the federal government response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico doesn't have time for the "political noise" that is still coming from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who engaged in a war of words with President Trump about the situation late last month.
In a string of tweets early Sunday morning, Cruz complained that there were "power collapses" in San Juan hospitals with two patients being transferred out, though she didn't specify by whom and to where. She tagged Long, adding "NOTHING!"
"Increasingly painful to undestand[sic] the american people want to help and US Gov does not want to help. WE NEED WATER!", she said in a separate tweet, also tagging Long.
Asked to respond on ABC's "This Week," Long echoed a comment he made last weekend, saying, "we filtered out the mayor a long time ago. We don't have time for the political noise."
Long continued by explaining how FEMA is "making progress every day" in coordination with Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, despite setbacks caused by such things as thunderstorms.
He detailed how FEMA helped build "an entire 911 system" and works to monitor the hospital system daily in case of a power failure. He mentioned that two hospitals this past week did have power outages and to that said, "we're actually life flighting the [intensive care unit] patients out of those hospitals onto the USNS Comfort."
The vessel received four critical patients from Caguas after a power generator failure on Oct. 6, two days after responding to a hospital power outage in Humacao.
"We continue to stabilize that situation with hospitals," Long said, before asserting again that he has no appetite for political posturing.
"As far as the political noise we filter that out, keeps our heads down and continue to make progress and push forward restoring essential functions for Puerto Rico," he said.
