Ameren Sending Workers, Equipment To Still-Devastated Puerto Rico

ST. LOUIS, MO — The St. Louis-based utility company Ameren Corp. is sending trucks, trailers and workers to Puerto Rico to help rebuild electric infrastructure damaged in Hurricanes Irma and Marie. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers estimated in December that perhaps 50 percent of Puerto Ricans are still without power and millions don't have access to clean drinking water. Though the official death toll stands at 64, journalists on the ground have reported bodies being burned or deposited in mass graves, and an investigation by the New York Times found that more than 1,000 people may have died in the days and weeks after the hurricanes hit from lack of food, clean water, and medical care.

More than three months since the hurricanes, Ameren is among several electric companies sending resources to Puerto Rico. Ameren says it will send about 75 line workers and additional support personnel. The effort is expected to begin as early as later this week. Ameren says equipment will go to Virginia and be loaded onto a barge, along with supplies and resources from other utilities. The equipment is not expected to arrive in Puerto Rico until in mid-January. Ameren workers will focus on the northeast coast area, immediately east of San Juan.

President Trump praised his administration's response to the crisis on Puerto Rico in October, giving himself a 10 out of 10, but many Puerto Ricans — who are American citizens — are still living under tarps, in makeshift shelters, and without power. And botched or suspicious contracts — like one for $300 million awarded to a small Montana company with only a handful of employees — have not helped. Officials in Puerto Rico have said power may not be fully restored until May, and the Republican tax bill signed into law by President Trump this week may devastate island's economy by taxing it like a foreign country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo: A donated solar lamp in a driveway illuminates storm debris still waiting to be collected on Christmas Day in Morovis, Puerto Rico. (Mario Tama/News/Getty Images)