Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico in quick succession after Hurricane Irma, taking the lives of at least 13 people in the process, but the havoc it caused is far from finished. The National Weather Service (NWS) has reported that the Guajataca Dam that is located at the northern end of Lake Guajataca in northwest Puerto Rico, has undergone serious damage, and that its failure is “imminent”, thus provoking a “life-threatening situation”, to the more of 70,000 people that live in the nearby areas of Isabela and Quebradillas.
Officials are currently conducting mass evacuations in buses, but the conditions are not ideal, with all of the island’s electric power having been knocked out, and the clock running against them.
“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order,”
People are being advised to move to higher ground, with Federal Reservoir data showing that the lake has risen more than three feet after the category 4 storm wrecked the island.
The hurricane couldn’t have come at a worst time, just weeks before Hurricane Irma had already caused major damage in the island, with the strong winds and heavy rains having knocked out power and communications for most of the island.
The dam was built in 1929, and the people of Puerto Rico use it to store their drinking water and for irrigation. According to the U.S. Geological Survey taken in 1999, the dam had a capacity of 11 billion gallons.
The operators of the Guajataca Dam reported heavy structure damage at 14:10 local time (18:10 GMT). This sparked a flash flood emergency for Isabela and Quebradillas municipalities, with the NWS resorting to Twitter to inform the population.
The now category 3 hurricane is moving away from the Turks and Caicos islands and into the northeast and east of the Bahamas according to the weekend’s forecast.
Hurricane Maria has already collected 30 casualties from all over the Caribbean, with at least 15 deaths in Dominica Republic, and this is not accounting for the 20 people whoo have been reported missing.
Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rossello has called Maria the worst hurricane in a century and says it could take months to restore power to all its 3.4 million inhabitants.
President Donald Trump reported that the storm had “totally obliterated” the U.S. island territory, and promised that he would help rebuild Puerto Rico.