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posted by takyon on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the good-time-to-implement-strict-building-codes dept.

At 9PM ET September 20, ABC News reported

The island of Puerto Rico has been "destroyed" after Hurricane Maria made landfall there as a Category 4 storm Wednesday morning, according to emergency officials.

Puerto Rico's office of emergency management confirmed that 100 percent of the U.S. territory had lost power, noting that anyone with electricity was using a generator.

Multiple transmission lines sustained damage from the storm, said Ricardo Ramos, director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Ramos said he hopes to begin launching helicopters by this weekends to begin inspecting the transmission lines.

Telecommunications throughout the island have "collapsed", Abner Gomez Cortes, executive director of Puerto Rico's office of emergency management and disaster administration agency, told ABC News.

[...] Cortes described Maria as an unprecedented storm, adding that the island had not seen a storm of that strength since 1928.

[...] Puerto Rico was still experiencing tropical-storm force winds Wednesday afternoon, forcing emergency services and search and rescue teams to wait before heading out to assess the damage, Cortes said.

More than 12,000 people are currently in shelters, and hospitals are now running on generators, Cortes said. Two hospitals--one in Caguas and one in Bayamon--have been damaged.

No deaths have been reported so far, but catastrophic flooding is currently taking place on the island. Multiple rain gauges have reported between 18 and 24 inches of rain, with some approaching the 30-inch mark over the last 24 hours.

Flooding is the danger "that will take lives", Cortes said, advising residents not to venture out of their homes until Thursday because "it is not safe to go out and observe".

[...] As of 8 p.m. ET, Maria had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained wind of 110 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

[...] Some strengthening is possible now that the storm is back over the ocean, so Maria has potential to become a Category 3 hurricane again.

National Hurricane Center graphics for Maria.
Map of Caribbean Islands.

At 15:20 UTC, Mashable reported

Clips shot in the [cities] of Farjado, San Juan, and Guyama show buildings experiencing extreme structural damage. Doors are being ripped right off their hinges, and windows, walls, and roofs of homes, restaurants, and hotels are being stripped away by the storm's incredible power.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:45PM (16 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:45PM (#571232)

    De facto is another way of saying that there is no official language. Many federal and local government agencies publish documents in Spanish. English-only laws violate the First Amendment.

    There is a process for getting U.S. statehood. If Puerto Rico wants to engage in that process, let's see what happens.

    Starting Score:    0  points
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       Informative=3, Total=3
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:50PM (15 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:50PM (#571238)

    It doesn't matter what the officials say; what matters is the standard that is actually in use.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @05:09PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @05:09PM (#571257)

      You mean the fake standard that you just made up.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:32PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:32PM (#571308)

        Standards are as people do.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @11:04PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @11:04PM (#571454)

          ¡Por eso no podemos tener la supremacía blanca! Los gringos no pueden aprender idiomas.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @12:41AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @12:41AM (#571494)

            Mir stimmt.

            • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday September 22 2017, @02:12AM

              by Gaaark (41) on Friday September 22 2017, @02:12AM (#571528) Journal

              Klaatu Barada Nikto

              --
              --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
          • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 22 2017, @12:44PM

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday September 22 2017, @12:44PM (#571625) Journal

            真的吗? 为什么西班牙语说的人不能说汉语? 他们有什么问题?

            I mean, 'cause if Spanish and German speakers don't speak Mandarin then they're clearly idiots, right?

            Sure, monolingualism is the sole province of Americans.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by tangomargarine on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:23PM (8 children)

      by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:23PM (#571305)

      No. Having an official language for a state (country) is a legal term. Saying English is the "standard language" is not the same thing, because you're fudging it to mean de facto standard. We're talking about de jure standard.

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:57PM (7 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:57PM (#571320)

        The OP very clearly talks about a standard that is de facto, not a standard that is de jure.

        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday September 21 2017, @07:20PM (6 children)

          by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday September 21 2017, @07:20PM (#571343)

          Technically the OP is this guy [soylentnews.org], who doesn't mention language at all. Presumably you mean here [soylentnews.org]?

          Why are we arguing over this?

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
          • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @08:16PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @08:16PM (#571374)

            You have chosen to interpret "the OP" as "the original poster", just so you can pretend to have won some argument.

            How petty.

            How about instead choosing to interpret "the OP" as "the other poster"? Then it means exactly what you already knew was meant, you intellectually dishonest asshole.

          • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @10:44PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @10:44PM (#571447)

            You have chosen to interpret "the OP" as "the original poster", just so you can pretend to have won some argument.

            How petty.

            How about instead choosing to interpret "the OP" as "the other poster"? In that case, it means exactly what you already knew was meant, you intellectually dishonest asshole.

          • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @12:30AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @12:30AM (#571490)

            You have chosen to interpret "the OP" as "the original poster", just so you can pretend to have won some argument.

            How petty.

            How about instead choosing to interpret "the OP" as "the other poster"? In that case, it means exactly what you already knew was meant, you intellectually dishonest asshole.

          • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @04:01AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @04:01AM (#571554)

            You have chosen to interpret "the OP" as "the original poster", just so you can pretend to have won some argument.

            How petty.

            How about instead choosing to interpret "the OP" as "the other poster"? In that case, it means exactly what you already knew was meant, you intellectually dishonest asshole.

          • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @01:46PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @01:46PM (#571636)

            You have chosen to interpret "the OP" as "the original poster", just so you can pretend to have won some argument.

            How petty.

            How about instead choosing to interpret "the OP" as "the other poster"? In that case, it means exactly what you already knew was meant, you intellectually dishonest asshole.

          • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @04:04AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @04:04AM (#571993)

            You have chosen to interpret "the OP" as "the original poster", just so you can pretend to have won some argument.

            How petty.

            How about instead choosing to interpret "the OP" as "the other poster"? In that case, it means exactly what you already knew was meant, you intellectually dishonest asshole.