A video posted to Facebook shows a warehouse in Ponce filled with thousands of cases of water and other much-needed supplies that are believed to have dated back to the hurricane that struck the island in 2017, ABC News has learned.
With this new discovery, Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez has dismissed Carlos Acevedo, the director of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.
“There are thousands of people who have made sacrifices to bring help to the south, and it is unforgivable that resources have been kept in a warehouse,” she said.
Vazquez said she’s given officials 48 hours to investigate why the supplies never made it to the public. Vazquez has nominated the head of the Puerto Rican National Guard to lead the Office of Emergency Management.
Prior to his firing, Acevedo rejected the claims of wasting of supplies in a statement.
“The citizen who entered today to share the images on social networks, violated the security perimeter, which represented a risk for him. For this reason, our colleagues instructed him to leave the area,” the statement read.
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and caused thousands of deaths. Critics said it caught the local and federal governments with limited supplies on an island with poorly maintained infrastructure and led to a delayed response stemming from a lack of communication and organization.
The aftermath of the recent 6.4 earthquakes also revealed the island would not be prepared if another hurricane hit the storm-vulnerable region.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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