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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 23 September 2022

Puerto Rico struggles to reach areas cut off by Fiona

By DÁNICA COTO Puerto Rico’s southwest re-
Associated Press gion, which already was still
CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (AP) trying to recover from a se-
— Hurricane Fiona was on a ries of strong earthquakes
track Thursday to menace in recent years. Some 62%
Bermuda and far-eastern of 1.47 million customers
Canada after leaving hun- remained without power
dreds of people stranded Thursday, four days after
across Puerto Rico, where it the storm, amid an extreme
smashed roads and bridg- heat alert issued by the
es and caused historic National Weather Service.
flooding. Some 36% of customers, or
Government officials have nearly half a million, did not
been working with religious have water service.
groups, nonprofits and oth- The U.S. Federal Emergen-
ers braving landslides, thick cy Management Agency
mud and broken asphalt by has sent hundreds of ad-
foot to provide food, water ditional personnel to help
and medicine for people in local officials as the federal
need, but they are under government approved a
pressure to clear a path so major disaster declaration
vehicles can enter isolated and announced a public
areas soon. health emergency on the
Nino Correa, commissioner A man points to a home that was collapsed by Hurricane Fiona at Villa Esperanza in Salinas, island.
for Puerto Rico’s emergen- Puerto Rico, Wednesday, September 21, 2022. Neither local nor federal
cy management agency, Associated Press government officials had
estimated that at least six provided any overall dam-
municipalities across the said, adding that he worries neath it. picks and shovels to clear age estimates from the
island had areas that were about elderly neighbors, Neighbors have shared the debris. But Fiona was storm, which dropped up
cut off by Fiona, which including his older brother food and water dropped different, unleashing huge to 30 inches of rain in some
struck as a Category 1 hur- who does not have the off by nonprofit groups, landslides. areas. More than 470 peo-
ricane and was up to Cate- strength for the long walk it and the son of an elderly “I cannot throw those rocks ple and 48 pets remained
gory 4 power Thursday as it takes to reach the closest woman was able to bring over my shoulder,” he said. in shelters.
headed toward Bermuda. community. back basic supplies by foot Like hundreds of thousands “Our hearts go out to the
Manuel Veguilla said he Veguilla heard that munici- Wednesday, he said. of other Puerto Ricans after people of Puerto Rico who
has been unable to leave pal officials might open a Veguilla said that in the Fiona, Veguilla had no wa- have endured so much suf-
his neighborhood in the pathway Thursday, but he aftermath of Hurricane ter or electricity service, but fering over the last couple
north mountain town of doubted that would hap- Maria, a Category 4 storm said there is a natural water of years,” said Brad Kieser-
Caguas since Fiona swept pen because large rocks that struck five years ago source nearby. man, vice president of op-
in on Sunday. covered a nearby bridge and resulted in nearly 3,000 Fiona sparked an island- erations and logistics at the
“We are all isolated,” he and the 10-foot space be- deaths, he and others used wide blackout when it hit Red Cross.q

I32 pilot whales rescued out of 230 stranded in Australia

HOBART, Australia (AP) — that’s a terrific result,” Clark tions, predominantly tidal years to the day after the coming to shore, and that’s
Wildlife experts on Thurs- told reporters late Thursday influences, we just haven’t largest mass-stranding in through a whole host of
day rescued 32 of the 230 at nearby Strahan. been able to access those Australia’s history was dis- reasons,” Carlyon said.
whales that were found “We still have three alive three animals safely today. covered in the same har- Local salmon farmer Lin-
stranded on the wild and on the far northern end But they’ll be our priority in bor. ton Kringle helped in the
remote west coast of Aus- of Ocean Beach, but be- the morning,” Clark added. About 470 long-finned pilot 2020 rescue effort and said
tralia’s island state of Tas- cause of access restric- The whales beached two whales were found on Sept. Thursday’s challenge was
mania a day earlier. 21, 2020, stuck on sandbars. more difficult because the
Half the pod of pilot whales After a weeklong effort, 111 whales were in shallower
found stranded in Macqua- of those whales were res- and more exposed waters.
rie Harbour were presumed cued but the rest died. Fourteen sperm whales
to still be alive on Wednes- The entrance to the harbor were discovered Monday
day, the Department of is a notoriously shallow and afternoon beached on
Natural Resources and En- dangerous channel known King Island in Bass Strait be-
vironment Tasmania said. as Hell’s Gate. tween the Australian main-
But only 35 had survived the Marine Conservation Pro- land and Tasmania.
pounding surf overnight, gram biologist Kris Car- Griffith University marine
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife lyon said the dead whales scientist Olaf Meynecke
Service manager Brendon would be tested to see if said it’s unusual for sperm
Clark said. there were toxins in their whales to wash ashore. He
“Of the 35 that were re- systems that might explain said that warmer tempera-
maining alive this morning, the disaster. tures could also be chang-
we’ve managed to refloat, n this image made from a video, a rescuer pours water on one “These mass stranding ing the ocean currents and
of stranded whales on Ocean Beach, near Strahan, Australia
rescue and release … 32 Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. events are typically the moving the whales’ tradi-
of those animals, and so Associated Press result of accidental sort of tional food.q