SAN ANTONIO – The hurricane-ravaged island of Puerto Rico is getting some much-needed help from Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio and FEMA.
Joint efforts have allowed nearly 100,000 pounds of supplies to be delivered to those in need in Puerto Rico. On an island without electricity, the need for food and water is great.
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"There's 97,000 pounds of commodities that are being shipped by the Air Force base to Puerto Rico," said Sandy Clawson Freeo, a media relations liaison with FEMA.
The emergency supplies were flown from an incident support base that was set up at Lackland with the help of the 502nd Air Base Wing and FEMA. Crews have been helping the Caribbean islands for weeks.
"It's been a great opportunity to serve those in St. Croix, and now we're starting to support those in Puerto Rico," said Lt. Col. Ernest Cage, commander of the 502nd Logistics Readiness Squadron.
Some of the supplies reaching the U.S. Territory of about 3.5 million people were left over from Texas after Hurricane Harvey.
"We've had an opportunity here, very quickly, to provide relief by shipping out 15 C-17 loads of cargo of food and water. That's over a million pounds," Cage said.
The challenge now is getting donated supplies to people, as many streets are damaged and there is a shortage of truck drivers and fuel. They're issues that are being tackled, Cage said.
"Once the aircraft is unloaded, FEMA has a great network of personnel on the ground, along with the National Guard and other military personnel that's doing a great job delivering those commodities," Cage said.