President Trump said Thursday that he plans to visit Puerto Rico to personally assess the devastation from Hurricane Maria.
“Puerto Rico is in very, very tough shape. Their electrical grid is destroyed. It wasn’t in great shape to start with,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
He did not say when he would make the visit.
Earlier, Mr. Trump declared a major disaster in Puerto Rico that made federal funds available to those affected by the storm, which knocked out power across the entire island Wednesday and caused widespread flooding and landslides.
“It’s very sad what happened to Puerto Rico,” Mr. Trump said, adding that the recovery effort was getting underway.
He also said recovery efforts were progressing quickly in Texas and Florida, which were hit by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, respectively.
The president gave the governors of the two states and the Federal Emergency Management Agency high marks for the preparation and response to the storms that hit just days apart.
“Texas, Florida — we give it an A-plus,” said Mr. Trump.
He made the remarks to reporters at the start of a meeting with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.
Mr. Poroshenko expressed his “sympathy and solidarity with the American people because of the hurricanes.”
Turning to Mr. Trump, he said, “I admire your strong leadership in these hard times.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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