Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico after FEMA supplies are already depleted

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 as a high-end Category 4 storm, knocking out the entire electrical grid. FEMA's Caribbean Distribution Center had already shipped 83 percent of supplies, 90 percent of water, and all tarps and cots to St. Thomas after Hurricane Irma two weeks earlier. FEMA had only 695 generators in stock and 31 on the island three days post-storm; the GAO later found 54 percent of deployed staff were not rated as "qualified."