ProPublica reports that FEMA had a plan on the books on how to respond in the case a major hurricane hits the Caribbean island of PR. This plan was drafted under the Obama administration, several years ago, in response to the bungling debacle that was Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Now FEMA, refuses to release the plan for Puerto Rico from public scrutiny citing “potentially sensitive information”.
The plan, known as a hurricane annex, runs more than 100 pages and explains exactly what FEMA and other agencies would do in the event that a large storm struck the island. The document could help experts assess both how well the federal government had prepared for a storm the size of Hurricane Maria and whether FEMA’s response matches what was planned. The agency began drafting such advance plans after it was excoriated for poor performance and lack of preparation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
ProPublica requested a copy of the Puerto Rico hurricane annex as part of its reporting on the federal response to Maria, the scale and speed of which has been the subject of scrutiny and criticism. More than a month after the storm made landfall, 73 percent of the island still lacks electricity.
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As ProPublica has previously reported, FEMA’s Freedom of Information process is plagued by dysfunction and yearslong backlogs. For example, FEMA hasn’t responded to a request for documents related to Superstorm Sandy that we filed more than three and a half years ago.
After FEMA declined to release the Puerto Rico hurricane plan, we found the agency’s equivalent plan for Hawaii posted, unredacted, on the internet by the Department of Defense. The Hawaii plan includes granular details down to, for example, how many specially outfitted medical aircraft the federal government would send to Hawaii after a Category 4 hurricane. It also describes an 85-step process to restore electricity on the islands.
Asked why the Puerto Rico plan was too sensitive to release publicly while the Hawaii plan was not, a FEMA spokesman said: “We aren’t able to speak for DoD or the State of Hawaii.”
When Irma and Maria hit the islands, I knew deep down that there had to be a plan for a hurricane strike in the Caribbean. President Obama would have insisted upon it, he was that kind of President. Thanks for excellent reporting by Justin Elliott and Decca Muldowney we now know it existed and that it was not acted upon. I’d like to know why.