small company out of montana. raised a lot of eyebrows when they were given a contract without any input from the army core of engineers. how the hell did you get this contract? you re a brand new company. we ve been around for a few years. we specialize in difficult and mountainous terrain projects. all s i can say is we took the call and we re here. they called you? we called each other. he struck a deal with prepa, the publicly owned utility notorious for high prices, rolling blackouts and a $9 billion debt. is it a risk for you to take this gig? it s a risk. when you come down here and you see what i ve seen and you have that skill set that can have an immediate impact on the people here it becomes a mission. not just a job? it s not a job, no. it became a mission. how long before juice is flowing through these? good question.
power has been dropping in puerto rico. as conditions there continues to deteriorate. who is in charge of getting it back on? good question. we have learned they ve picked a mom and pop country out of montana and given them a sole source as to stand up to the power grid t. army core of engineers and fema are disavowing any involvement in this plan. today the army core of engineers announced they would stand up to the power grid. maybe they ll do it? who is running this operation? ethe beginning of last week, we highlighted the new york times reported, the state of the art hospitalship that s docked in puerto rico has the capacity to be seeing hundreds of patients simultaneously, with 800 staff on board eager and willing to help. at the time we reported that, at the beginning of last week that hospitalship was seeing seven patients. then it inched up to eight
same municipality where president trump tossed the paper towels. as the mayor angel perez stood by. how would you describe the response of fema? it s been slowly, but it s there. they have given us water, food, tarps. so now they have changed a little. they re going to assign a couple persons directly to each municipality. i think that s the right direction. yeah. so the help is coming. reporter: with over a thousand homes in his hometown damaged, he says the biggest needs are tarps for shelter and drinking water. those plumes of fuel pouring into the creek are a reminder of the health hazards of drink ing off the land and he expresses hopes the army core of engineers can somehow replace his bridges. now, you are brand-new in this job. 40 days. reporter: 40 days.
there. they have given us water, food, tarps. so now they have changed a little. they re going to assign a couple persons directly to each municipality. i think that s the right direction yeah. so the help is coming. with over a thousand homes in his town damaged, he says the biggest needs are tarps for shelter and drinking water. those plumes of fuel pouring into the creek ra reminder of the health hafrz are drinking off the land and he expresses hopes the army core of engineers can somehow replace his bridges. now, you are brand-new in this job. 40 days. 40 days, what a baptism by fire. you were appointed by the governor after a scandal with the previous mayor. tell me about the politics. would you wish you could scream and big begging for more help from the federal government, or do you have to be careful about how you ask?
i think that s the right direction. so help is coming. with over 1,000 homes in his town damaged. he says the biggest needs are tarps for shelter and drinking water. those plumes of fuel pouring into the creek, a reminder of the health hazards of drinking off the land. and he expresses hopes the army core of engineers can somehow replace his bridges. you are brand new in this job? 40 day as. 40 days? what a baptism by fire, i know you were appointed by the governor after a scandal with the previous mayor. tell me about the politics, do you wish you co scream and beg for more help from the federal government, or do you have to be careful about how you ask? no, we want more help, and i know from my experience fema has given us a lot of help. we need more help and as i have meetings with other mayors, i