Puerto Rico governor fears humanitarian crisis in wake of Hurricane Maria

U.S. President Donald Trumpsays Puerto Rico is in "deep trouble" after being hitby Hurricane Maria and that its billions of dollars of debt toWall Street and banks "must be dealt with."

"Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from brokeninfrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble," Trump wrote in a series of posts on Twitter Monday night.

Trump did not offer a pathway for dealing with Puerto Rico'sdebt of $72 billion US.

The U.S. territory filed the biggest government bankruptcy in U.S. history earlierthis year.

Maria, the most powerful hurricane to hit Puerto Rico innearly a century, devastated the Caribbean island when it struck with ferocious winds and torrential rainslast week.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Monday asked formore government aid to avert a humanitarian crisis in theisland, which is home to 3.4 million people.

The U.S. heightened its response to the crisis Monday, while the Trump administration sought to blunt criticism that its responsehas fallen short of it efforts in Texas and Florida after the recent hurricanes there.

Five days after the Category 4 storm slammed into Puerto Rico, manyin the territory were still without adequate food, water and fuel. Flights off the island were infrequent, communications were spotty and roads were clogged with debris. Officials said electrical power may not be fully restored for more than a month.

In Washington, officials said no armada of U.S. navy ships was headed to the island because supplies could be carried in more efficiently by plane. The Trump administration ruled out temporarily setting aside federal restrictions on foreign ships' transportation of cargo, saying it wasn't needed. The government had waived those rules in Florida and Texas until last week.

Democratic lawmakers with large Puerto Rican constituencies on the mainland characterized the response so far as too little and too slow.

"Puerto Ricans are Americans," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, of New York, who travelled to the island over the weekend to assess the damage. "We cannot and will not turn our backs on them."

70,000 evacuate river valley

Trump said during an appearance in New York last week that Puerto Rico was "absolutely obliterated" and in "very tough shape." But over the weekend he made no mention of the humanitarian difficulties as he tweeted criticisms of NFL football players for their protests during the national anthem.

Rosselloexpressed his gratitude for the help so far, but alsourgedthe U.S. Congress to fund an aid package to avert a humanitarian crisis.

At a news briefing,Rossello also said that most of the people living near acrumbling dam on the islandhad been moved tosafety.

There weregrowing concerns for some 70,000 people wholive in the river valley below the Guajataca Dam in the island'snorthwest, where cracks were seen on Friday in the 88-year-oldearthen structure.

Rossello said he was working on the assumption that the 35-metre dam would collapse.

"I'd rather be wrong on that front than doing nothing andhaving that fail and costing people lives," he said in an interview with CNN. "Some of the dam has fallen apart,and nowwe're making sure that we can assess if the other part is going to fall down as well.... Most of the people in the nearvicinity have evacuated."

The fear of a potentially catastrophic dam break added tothe immense task facing disaster relief authorities after Maria,
which was the second major hurricane to strike the Caribbeanthis month. The confirmed toll from Maria jumped to at least 49 on Monday, including 16 dead in Puerto Rico,several of whom drowned or were hit by flying debris.

Economic crisis worsens

Many structures on the island, including hospitals, remained badly damaged and flooded.

Rossello said on Monday that before the storms struck, hehad been embarking on an aggressive fiscal agenda that includedmore than $1.5 billion in cuts.

"This is a game changer," he told CNN. "This is a completelydifferent set of circumstances. This needs to be taken into
consideration otherwise there will be a humanitarian crisis."

In a statement appealing for support from the U.S.government, Rossello said, "We ask the Trump administration and U.S. Congress to take swift action to help Puerto Rico rebuild."

In Washington, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker PaulRyan said Congress was working with Trump's administrationto ensure Puerto Rico was given necessaryassistance.

"Our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico remain in our prayers aswe make sure they have what they need," he said in a statement.

Relief package?

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi urged the Trumpadministration to deploy Defence Department resources for rescueoperations, law enforcement and transportation in Puerto Ricoand the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Congress must also "swiftly" pass a relief package, she saidin a statement. Republicans control the White House and bothchambers of Congress.

Singer Jennifer Lopez, whose parents are Puerto Rican, has pledged $1 million toward relief efforts, announcing Sunday that she would give money from her ongoing Las Vegas residency to various charities in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.The 48-year-old Lopez says she still has family on the island that she has yet to hear from.

Fellow singer Ricky Martin has donated $100,000 to the relief effort and launched an online fundraiser.

There are more than 10,000 federal staff, including morethan 700 people from the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA), doing recovery work in Puerto Rico and the U.S. VirginIslands, according to FEMA.

The National Hurricane Centre said Monday night that Maria was about 400 kilometres southeast of CapeHatteras, N.C., with maximum sustained winds of 128 km/h, and was expected to pass east of the state's coast over the next couple of days.