Due to Hurricane Fiona’s impairment of the island’s ability to restore electricity, businesses in Puerto Rico have been disrupted.
In addition, numerous food stores and petrol stations have halted as a result of the situation. At the end of the day, the situation has heightened worries about food and fuel shortages.
Because there was a great demand for purchasing food and other things when the hurricane hit the country, store owners that posted notices of temporary closures received complaints from many customers.
Furthermore, Puerto Rico now has a million or more customers without power.
Betty Merced, a resident of Salinas City, mentioned that she struggled to locate a gas station that was open when she wanted to refuel her generator with diesel.
“There are a lot of people with a lot of needs. If there is no diesel, we’re going to be very much in harm’s way,” Merced stated.
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She claims that she has been unsuccessful after searching all across the city for diesel. She will thus continue to other towns like Santa Isabel to seek supplies.
If unsuccessful, she would keep searching for a business that sold fuel in a powerless nation by going to other northern cities.
“I didn’t think we were going to be so many days without power,” Merced said.
The Salinas residents were left hustling to acquire supplies as the town’s petrol outlets closed. Thousands of people are vying for the supply, including community leader Wanda Rios Colorado.
Wanda described her experience with Hurricane Marios in 2017 and paralleled the present state of things, claiming that everyone is experiencing difficulties due to the lack of petrol and supplies.
Furthermore, it is now challenging to find pharmacies throughout the nation that are open for customers. People who need to take medication have grown more worried as a result of this.
The government assured that there is no shortage
Despite the fact that many residents went on record about their concerns, the government of Puerto Rico contests this.
Fuel supplies are plentiful, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs. In addition, the flooding, landslides, and statewide power outage are to blame for the current situation, which is only a system interruption.
According to officials, the power outage prevented many gas stations from operating around the country.
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However, the Secretary of Consumer Affairs, Edan Rivera, said there was no rationale for Puerto Rico to be declared to be experiencing a fuel scarcity.
“There’s a peak in demand in the most affected areas, but it has been normalizing as trucks arrive,” he added.
“Some will say they have received less product, but it’s not that they’re getting less. They asked for a lot, and to err on the side of caution; they’re not being given everything they ask for.”
A container ship with about 300,000 barrels of fuel on board, according to Rivera, has been arranged.
In terms of getting gasoline for their generators and other uses, it should soothe many people’s worries.
Photo Credit: Andres Kudacki | TIME
Source: NPR
