25 September 2017 12:47 pm
REUTERS, 24 September, 2017- A Puerto Rico dam damaged by heavy rains from Hurricane Maria was in danger of failing on Sunday, posing a risk to communities downstream, as people across the U.S. territory sought to dig out from the deadly storm.
Some 70,000 people who live downstream from the compromised Guajataca Dam in the northwest of the island were under orders to evacuate, with the structure in danger of bursting at any time.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello, after surveying damage to the cracked dam, reiterated his request on Saturday that people leave the area as soon as possible.
“The fissure has become a significant rupture,” Rossello said at a news conference. The dam, which is made of earth and surrounded by trees in a largely rural region of Puerto Rico, is 120 feet (37 metres) tall, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers database.