Trump Will Visit Puerto Rico Next Tuesday
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will travel to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico next Tuesday.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said it was the earliest date he could reach the devastated island.
Trump said the US territory was "literally destroyed."
He said he may also stop in the US Virgin Islands.
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Earlier Tuesday, Trump vowed that federal assistance is on its way to Puerto Rico, a day after he commented for the first time in days about the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria since it made landfall on the US territory.
"Thank you to Carmen YulÃn Cruz, the Mayor of San Juan, for your kind words on FEMA etc. We are working hard. Much food and water there/on way," he wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning, moments after YulÃn Cruz appeared on CNN's "New Day."
Sharing harrowing details of rescue efforts in her city, YulÃn Cruz praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency's "great job" and "logistics help."
"Our bodies are so tired, but our souls are so full of strength that we will get to everyone we can get to," she said.
Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico last week, whipping the island with Irma-level winds, drenching it in Harvey-level flooding, crippling communications, decimating buildings and damaging a dam that puts downstream residents at risk of catastrophe. Without power and communications for much of the island, millions of people have been cut off from the world since the hurricane hit.
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