Five days after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, its devastating impact is becoming clearer. Most of the U.S. territory currently has no electricity or running water, fewer than 250 of the island’s 1,600 cellphone towers are operational, and damaged ports, roads, and airports are slowing the arrival and transport of aid. Communication has been severely limited and some remote towns are only now being contacted. Jenniffer Gonzalez, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, told the Associated Press that Hurricane Maria has set the island back decades.
Disconnected by Disaster—Photos From a Battered Puerto Rico
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Water drains from the Guajataca Dam in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, on September 23. Puerto Rican officials rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of people downstream of the failing dam as the massive scale of the disaster wrought by Hurricane Maria started to become clear. #
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Lizzy Alicea (left) hugs her mother Maria Flores in Hayales de Coamo, Puerto Rico. Alicea traveled from San Juan to check on Flores because she couldn't get through on the telephone. #
Joe Raedle / Getty
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