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Puerto Rico Dam Failing in Maria's Aftermath, Forcing Mass Evacuations

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The National Weather Service says the Guajataca Dam is failing in western Puerto Rico and buses are evacuating up to 70,000 people "as quickly as they can."

Puerto Rican officials said they could not reach more than half the towns on the Island due to debris, downed power lines, and cell towers.
 
The government is calling the situation "extremely dangerous."
 
The weather service office in San Juan says dam operators reported at Friday afternoon that the dam at the northern end of Lake Guajataca in the northwest corner of Puerto Rico was failing and causing flash flooding downstream.
 
Hurricane Maria is now moving away from the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands as a powerful Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

Maria is moving to the north-northwest and the storm is expected to slowly weaken while making a turn toward the north by late Saturday. Forecasters in the Miami center say Maria's fierce core is moving away from the Turks and Caicos Islands and to the northeast and east of the Bahamas.

At the moment, Maria does not appear to pose a threat to the U.S. mainland.

Most of the deaths from Maria, at least 15 of them, came on the island of Dominica. Total devastation is apparent there with roads ripped apart and huge trees uprooted.  

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says it's a miracle that more didn't lose their lives. He has made an emotional plea for helicopter services to bring in supplies.

On the island of Puerto Rico, the devastation is severe, with Maria wiping out the U.S. territory's electrical grid.

Mike Hyland, senior vice president of engineering services for the American Public Power Association, a utility industry group that is sending repair crews into the Caribbean, has refused to speculate on when power might come back.

Because of the territory's $73 billion debt crisis, the island's power company abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years.

The island's three million residents are preparing to go for weeks or even months without electricity.

Some are hunting for gas canisters for cooking, collecting rainwater, and trying to mentally prepare for the hardships to come in the tropical heat.

"This has been devastating," said 69-year-old retiree Annie Mattei's as her eyes welled with tears.

Hector Llanos, a 78-year-old retired New York police officer, is leaving the island.

Like many Puerto Ricans, Llanos does not have a generator or gas stove. "The only thing I have is a flashlight," he said, shaking his head. "This is never going to return to normal."

Maribel Montilla filled two large barrels with water but worried about how long it would last for her, her daughter, her son-in-law and six grandchildren.

"You know what I think? We're going to be without power for six months now," she said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is now flying three to four military planes a day to the island to deliver water, food, generators and temporary shelters.

Puerto Ricans are trying to start cleaning up but that's extremely difficult. With more than 30 inches of rain in 24 hours, many streets are submerged or impassable.  

Authorities are still rescuing people from their flooded homes. The governor himself headed out overnight with the National Guard to rescue families.

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About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim