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Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal calls for aid to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Fiona

A worker cuts an electricity pole that was downed by Hurricane Fiona as it blocks a road in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.
Stephanie Rojas
/
AP
A worker cuts an electricity pole that was downed by Hurricane Fiona as it blocks a road in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.

Hurricane Fiona drenched parts of Puerto Rico with more than 30 inches of rain leading to wide-spread blackouts and flooding. Five years after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, is calling for humanitarian aid.

"Last time Puerto Rico experienced this kind of natural disaster our country failed to respond," he said. "We need to remember, our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico deserve the same kinds of all-in, all-hands-on-deck response."

In 2019, Connecticut was home to the 6th largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the United States according to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.

Blumenthal said he plans to formally request aid this week in Washington DC.

He said one pressing issue is making sure the electrical grid in Puerto Rico is resilient in the weeks and months to come. The island’s private electricity provider, LUMA Energy, says it could take several days until power is restored across the island.

This story will be updated.

Updated: September 19, 2022 at 5:04 PM EDT
This story has been updated.
Camila Vallejo is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. She is a bilingual reporter based out of Fairfield County and welcomes all story ideas at cvallejo@ctpublic.org.