Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico today just two weeks after Irma caused as much as $1 billion in damages on the bankrupt island, Bloomberg News reported today. Maria’s top winds were at 155 miles an hour, the National Hurricane Center said in a notice around 6 a.m. EDT. Maria could cause $30 billion in damage to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler for Enki Research. Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy in May after years of economic decline while a series of defaults have effectively left it unable to raise money in the capital markets. Its aging government-owned electric utility operates under court protection from creditors and its emergency fund stood at about $32 million before Irma knocked out power to hundreds of thousands. Read more.
For updated news and analysis of Puerto Rico's debt crisis, along with current docket filings in Puerto Rico's case, be sure to visit ABI's "Puerto Rico in Distress" webpage.
