The US military relies on the ability to rapidly solve these kind of problems anywhere in the world (even across “big water” from the Continental US) including on-demand road clearing/building with either minimal pre-existing infrastructure or heaving damage to pre-existing infrastructure rendering it unusable.
US law provides broad authority for the use of military resources for disaster relief. It's a failure of the executive branch senior leadership if the need for such resources is not identified and acted on in a timely fashion.
And don't tell me that the army's engineering corps can't spare a bunch of trucks, half-tracks, bulldozers, mobile bridges, etc. That and preparing for/preventing natural disasters is practically what the army's engineering corps exists for, domestically. The US army holds its place in the world because of its astonishing ability to provide extensive logistical support anywhere, anywhen. But we apparently can't manage basic distribution in our own home when the roads get swamped?
The USS Wasp was recently moved from Dominica to PR.
Note, this is still less help than FL received for Irma. FL got Kearsarge + Oak Hill + New York + Iwo Jima. (The last two ships have about 2000 people.. they were clearing roads, restoring electricity, and distributing supplies in FL.. they went home from FL the same day maria was upgraded to a cat 4 and was just off PRs coast.)
And note, USS Wasp was in PR for Irma, then moved to Dominica for Maria, now has moved back a couple of days ago. (USS Wasp has water purification systems.. they're literally distributing water)
[1] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/10/04...
Which is what the Army, Coast Guard, and Marines -- not to mention all those gold bars in Fort Knox -- are for.
If the current administration wanted to flex every available muscle to help the people of Puerto Rico, it would. But very clearly it doesn't.
DoD has in fact taken over responsibility for local management of disaster response. I couldn't find a MSM source but you can Google Translate this [1] - god help me I had to find the link on /r/the_donald.
[1] - https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/cambialalog...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-puertorico-solar/how-...
The military probably have a lot of experience deploying solar energy infrastructure in places with complex accessibility.
[1] https://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-batteries-puerto-rico-2490950...
Surely there are still 3.4 million Puerto Ricans on the island?
Are they all starving and without water?
Might you possibly be exaggerating?
I can't imagine 3.4 million people stick around with no electricity for 4-6 months, and no local economy. I did not at all mean to claim 3.4 million people have left already.
I am guessing if the electrical grid is truly destroyed and will take 4-6 months to rebuild as reported, how could that not lead to a mass exodus?
The Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration tells NPR that the government is working with the truck driver's union to find a solution for driving with downed power lines and damaged roads, and the Department of Defense says it has sent teams to work on clearing blocked streets.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/28/554297787/...
Apparently there are 10,000 containers in port but no way to distribute the goods. No drivers, no gas for trucks, and no passable roads to drive on.
You can't rebuilt the islands electrical grid in a couple weeks, when first you have to rebuild the roads, which you can't build because there's no one there to build them because there's no food or water.
I'd say the devastation is truly shocking. It's not particularly shocking that the recovery is just getting started and that they are facing absolutely enourmous logistical problems compounded by the pre-existing state and very poor readiness for this level of event.