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President Trump visits Puerto Rico on Tuesday
"My people are suffering. This is a disaster," says mayor of a town in western Puerto Rico
(CNN) —
“I don’t want to live here anymore.”
Eyleen Gonzalez, all of 18 years of age, uttered that phrase without hesitating.
Gonzalez’s house in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, was destroyed by Hurricane Maria nearly two weeks ago.
Since then, everyone in her hometown has lived without electricity. Only a quarter of its 80,000 residents have running water. About half of gas stations in town are open, with long queues stretching blocks. Most supermarkets are open but rationing food.
The destruction in Toa Baja is the rule, not the exception, in Puerto Rico, where the recovery has moved at a glacial pace, according to over a dozen interviews with residents, local relief workers and small-town mayors across the island.
Federal officials and Puerto Rican government leaders stress the recovery efforts are “united.” But things took a divisive twist Saturday when President Donald Trump lambasted the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, for “poor leadership.”
Trump visits Puerto Rico on Tuesday, and he may get a sense of why the recovery has been a nightmare for many of the island’s 3.4 million US citizens.
“My people are suffering. This is a disaster,” says Carlos Mendez, the mayor of Aguadilla in western Puerto Rico.
The Port of San Juan, where much of the humanitarian aid is arriving, doesn’t have enough truck drivers. Even if it did, many trucks don’t have enough diesel fuel to deliver food, water and other essentials. There’s little cell service for those with the aid to communicate with towns, drivers and locals. Banks can’t get enough armored trucks to deliver cash too.
On top of all that, roads are marred with fallen trees – or the road just doesn’t exist anymore. In one town, residents strung a cable across a river to ford it in knee-deep water because the bridge connecting the two sides had been washed a football field’s length downriver.
Meanwhile, hospitals and food banks are running low on fuel for their generators to keep the lights on and preserve fruits, veggies and meat.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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Carolyn Cole/LA Times via Getty Images
An apartment building is missing a wall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday, September 25, nearly a week after Hurricane Maria devastated the US commonwealth. Power is still out in most places, and communications remain almost nonexistent on the island of 3.4 million people.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Yancy Leon rests at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport near San Juan on September 25. She's been waiting in line for two days to get a flight out.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
An aerial view shows the flooding in San Juan on September 25.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images
People collect water from a natural spring created by landslides in Corozal, Puerto Rico, on Sunday, September 24. Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said the island faces a humanitarian crisis.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty Images
An aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Catano, Puerto Rico, on Friday, September 22.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images
A man cleans a muddy street in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on September 22.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks on a highway divider while carrying his bicycle through San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday, September 21.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images
A shack is destroyed in San Juan on September 21.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP/Getty Images
A gas station's sign is damaged in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, as the hurricane passed just north of the country on September 21.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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Carlos Giusti/AP
Rescue workers drive through a flooded road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday, September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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The Washington Post/Getty Images
A mattress that fell from the third floor is surrounded by debris outside a San Juan apartment complex on September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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STR/AFP/Getty Images
Damage is seen in Roseau, Dominica, on September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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STR/AFP/Getty Images
People walk through the destruction in Roseau on September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
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Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images
San Juan is shrouded in darkness after the hurricane knocked out power to the entire island of Puerto Rico.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
PHOTO:
Carlos Giusti/AP
Power lines are scattered across a road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
PHOTO:
Carlos Giusti/AP
Residents move aluminum panels from an intersection in Humacao on September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
PHOTO:
Carlos Giusti/AP
Rescue vehicles are trapped under an awning in Humacao on September 20.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
PHOTO:
HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images
Trees are toppled outside the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on September 20.