- A high-tech emergency siren system — considered "vital" to warn Puerto Ricans of dam breaks and mud slides — sat in storage as Hurricane Dorian barreled past the island Wednesday, The New York Times reported.
- The solar-powered and satellite-operated system has yet to be fully installed at the Guajataca Dam, which is the largest dam in western Puerto Rico, since operation tests took place last year.
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced the system's installation last year, after emergency workers were forced to go door-to-door to evacuate locals following a dam break due to Hurricane Maria.
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A $1.2 million high-tech emergency siren system — considered "vital" to warn Puerto Ricans of dam breaks and mud slides — was reportedly stuck in storage as Hurricane Dorian roared past the island Wednesday.
The solar-powered system still has yet to be fully installed at the Guajataca Dam, which is the largest dam in western Puerto Rico, since operation tests took place last year, The New York Times reported Thursday.
After emergency workers were forced to go door-to-door to evacuate locals following a dam break due to damages from Hurricane Maria, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced the system in September 2018, The Times reported.
Seven permanent emergency sirens were intended to issue audible alerts of dam breaks and mudslides. They were delivered this spring, but all remain in storage, The Times reported.
Three other sirens are currently installed at the dam site, Carlos Acevedo, the Puerto Rico emergency management commissioner, told The Times, adding that the residents nearby are "not in danger" because the sirens can still reach all area homes.
But two of those sirens are portable and one was installed by the LRAD Corporation, the company that sold Puerto Rico the systems, at its own expense, according to The Times.
"It is a very vulnerable area," Vicente Valle, a public safety director stationed near the dam in Isabela, told The Times. "The time the people there have to flee if there is a break is very minimal, because they are very close to the dam."
"This is serious, very serious. Those sirens are vital."
'Basically, it's bureaucracy'
Records obtained by The Times showed that the installation, which is included in the contract of the company that sold the system to the island, LRAD Corporation, has been extended three times.
"We have been looking into the delay, and are very disappointed," Richard Danforth, the company's chief executive, told The Times.
The Times reported that the bulk of the high-tech equipment remains in storage because the Puerto Rican government has yet to fulfill the permits to have it installed. Isabela Mayor Carlos Delgado told The Times that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which owns the dam, is waiting for another government agency to give the go-ahead for installment.
"They said it was not in their hands, that it depended on other agencies," Delgado said. "It's too long a delay, but normal for Puerto Rico. Basically, it's bureaucracy."
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