wfn.org | Hurricane Hits Puerto Rico

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3163 notes).

Note 3163 by UMNS on Sept. 11, 1996 at 15:55 Eastern (1989 characters).

SEARCH:   hurricane, Hortense, Puerto Rico, relief
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue                      449(10-32-71B){3163}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722          Sept. 11, 1996

2nd hurricane in week
deluges Puerto Rico

                 by United Methodist News Service

     While areas from North Carolina to central Pennsylvania
struggle to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Fran and the
resulting flooding, Puerto Rico was just beginning to count the
toll from Hurricane Hortense's passage Sept. 10.
     This hurricane, with winds of about 80 miles an hour, did its
damage with 12 to 18 inches of rain, destroying roads, carrying
off houses and wiping out power. 
     Government officials said 85 percent of the island's homes
and workplaces were without electricity and 93 percent of the
people were without potable water.
     At least eight people are dead and as many are missing, but
the church center of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico is
intact. Personnel of the autonomous affiliate of the United
Methodist Church were trying to establish contact with the
southern portion of the island, which was hardest hit.
     The church center, in the San Juan area, will serve as a
staging center for distribution of relief materials once
conditions permit assessment of the needs, said a staff member of
the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries who succeeded in
establishing telephone contact with the center by mid-day Sept.
11.
     Thousands of the island territory's 3.6 million people spent
the night of Sept. 10 in shelters.
     Hurricane Hortense moved on, skirting the Dominican Republic.
By noon Sept. 11, the storm's winds had strengthened to 100 miles
an hour and the eye was 35 miles east of the Turks Islands.
                              #  #  #

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