Maria\u2019s 150 mph winds blew out windows at hotels and apartment buildings in the area, which had been a key part of a revitalization project in recent years to attract more visitors to the US territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was as if a 50- to 60-mile-wide tornado raged across Puerto Rico, like a buzz saw,\u201d Jeff Weber, a meteorologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research told Vox<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s almost as strong as a hurricane can get in a direct hit.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMaria was the\u00a0fifth-strongest storm\u00a0on record ever to hit the US, and the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in 80 years. At least 10 fatalities have so far been reported.<\/p>\n
Crumbling Infrastructure<\/h2>\n
Before Hurricane Maria arrived, Puerto Rico was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the mid-2000s, casinos were actively recruiting employees from the states to come work at its resorts, assuring them that they didn\u2019t need to speak Spanish to live and work there.<\/p>\n
But by 2011, many casinos started shutting down, for reasons ranging from market saturation to fears of the Zika virus.<\/p>\n
Basic infrastructure was hurting before Maria, too, and now the US territory will need federal assistance to restore basic services. Strapped with a $73 billion debt crisis pre-hurricane, Puerto Rican agencies such as the state power company were broke, and thus abandoned most maintenance efforts in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Puerto Rico was \u201cabsolutely obliterated\u201d\u00a0and said he plans to visit the island, but didn\u2019t say when. He also approved a disaster declaration for Puerto Rico, making federal funds available.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in very, very, very perilous shape,\u201d Trump told reporters Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s very sad what happened to Puerto Rico.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The damage Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico\u2019s homes and streets were immediately evident after it blew through the island, but the aftereffects it could have casinos and tourism will take months, if not years to assess. The Category 4 storm tore roofs off buildings, pulled trees out of the ground, and flooded homes when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":59265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Hurricane Maria Could Devastate Puerto Rico Tourism, Casinos for Years<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n