Greenpeace Ship Leaves Brooklyn To Take Supplies To Puerto Rico

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A Greenpeace ship is will set sail from Brooklyn on Tuesday to deliver eco-friendly supplies to Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm, in September.

The Arctic Sunrise will depart from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, then make stops in Norfolk, VA, Wilmington, NC, and Miami to collect aid supplies and provide a series of climate change classes before landing in Puerto Rico in about two weeks, said Greenpeace.

The boat will be loaded with “resilient and green resources” that include bicycles, solar panels, water filters and more, organizers said.

Greenpeace hopes to assist Puerto Ricans who are still struggling weeks after Hurricane Maria hit the island on Sept. 20. More than 29 percent of the island's 3 million residents are still without safe drinking water and about 85 percent are living without electricity, according to estimates from the Puerto Rican government.

The official death toll has risen to 48 and a recent study reports 81 more people whose deaths were linked to the hurricane, 450 people who died from unknown causes and 69 people missing.

The federal government’s response to the dangerous conditions in Puerto Rico has became a point of political contention after President Trump blamed water shortages and power outages on the local infrastructure and not the impact of a Category 5 storm.

“It really was in bad shape before,” said Trump in a news conference Monday, where he blamed the water access problem on local distributors.

“What we've done is we now actually have military distributing food, something that really they shouldn't have to be doing.”

Greenpeace is one of many volunteer groups organizing aid for Puerto Ricans. Check out Patch's guide to donating supplies from New York City here.

Photo courtesy of Gregor/Pixabay