For many Puerto Ricans, there is an understandable fear of “here we go again.” It is well known that Maria left more than $90 billion in damage, causing nearly 3,000 fatalities and the longest blackout in U.S. history. Some towns waited about 11 months to regain power. Had this kind of disaster happened on the U.S. mainland, the appalling lack of federal response in 2017 would have been unthinkable.

The road back has been long and challenging. Only about $25 billion of the nearly $80 billion authorized by Congress after Maria ever made it to the island. Emergency agencies were slow to step in. The entire federal response was summed up by Donald Trump, who came briefly to the island and casually tossed rolls of paper towels to a crowd of Guaynabo residents.