new york representative nydia velazquez delivers the democratic weekly address.she talks about hurricane florence and hurricane relief efforts. rep. velasquez: hello. i am congresswoman nydia velazquez, and i represent new york's seventh congressional district. as our fellow americans in the carolinas face the devastation of hurricane florence, we are reminded that this week marks one year since maria made landfall in puerto rico, and when irma and maria devastated the virgin islands. ia cameto rico, mar ashore in my hometown as a category 4 storm with sustained winds over 150 miles per

there, who knows the territory and knows the congress and knows our possibilities, congresswoman nydia velazquez of new york. velazquez: good morning, everyone. thank you, leader pelosi and all my colleagues for being here today. first, let me say, i know we are all praying for those in the carolinas and everyone in florence's path. next week marks one year since maria made landfall in my hometown as a category four hurricane. the hurricane then devastated the island with 150 miles per hour winds. every household and business lost power. thousands of them will not regain electricity until august of this year, marking the longest blackout in american history. remarkably, for months the death toll was reported as only 64. then the puerto rico center for investigative journalism asked many american media outlets, begin to expose that the death toll was much higher. we know now that this condition resulted in the almost 3000 loss of our fellow citizens. whether it was from dialysis machines and medical care not functioning, a loss of air conditioning in extreme heat, or the suicide rate spiking due

joining me right now, the first puerto rican woman elected to congress, nydia velazquez, joining me nowhill. you were born in puerto rico. your family still lives there. you lost contact. i remember you sitting on set with me and telling me you had lost contact with them for days after maria had hit. you see this tweet today from the president, and you think what? >> it just -- it's appalling. it's outrageous. but we know, and i know, that what the president is trying to do is to gaslight the american people. he's gaslighting the people to try to deflect blame. we all know how ill prepared the administration was when they knew that hurricane maria was on track to hit puerto rico. in fact, they didn't preposition water, supplies, power generators, so the issue here is whether it's not whether 3,000 people died as a direct hit of maria. they died because of the dismal response of this administration. in fact, kate, fema put out a report that basically it's an indictment of the president and the administration's response. the problem here is that the president doesn't read. we know that. b

la congresista nydia velÁzquez ha sido una fÉrrea crÍtica del presidente con respecto a la respuestaucha para que esto no se repita y destaca que los esfuerzos se concentran en tratar de ayudar a quienes se habÍan afectados por los embates del huracÁn "florence" retomando la cobertura de la trayectoria de este fenÓmeno que abarca 400 millas vamos a restablecer comunicaciÓn con arantxa cuando transmitÍa moss para la costa este, se dirigÍan por carretera tengo entendido que ahora ya van por lake marion estas rÁfagas están de alguna forma experimentando en carolina del sur. quÉ ven a esta hora, arantxa. >> la diferencia con lo que habÍa hace un par de horas cuando salimos, a lo que vemos ahora la diferencia es abismal. en carolina del sur aunque se sentÍan esa rÁfagas, el viento no era tan fuerte como lo que experimentamos en este momento, adelante de nosotros, voy a tratar de voltear la cÁmara a ver si pueden ver el camiÓn satÉlite que se tambalea de un lado a otro, como si estuviera bailando es lo que venimos diciendo, esto es debido a que nos estamos acercando poco a poco a la zona e

new york representative nydia velazquez delivers the democratic weekly address. she talks about hurricane florence and hurricane relief efforts. rep. velasquez: hello. i am congresswoman nydia velazquez, and i represent new york's seventh congressional district. as our fellow americans in the carolinas face the devastation of hurricane florence, we are reminded that this week marks one year since maria made landfall in puerto rico, and when irma and maria devastated the virgin islands. ia cameto rico, mar ashore in my hometown as a category 4 storm with sustained winds over 150 miles per hour, ravaging bridges and roads and destroying more than 87,000 385,000ith another seriously damaged. sical damages are expected to exceed $90 billion. the entire territory, all 3.4 million american citizens, lost power. thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands of would not regain electricity for nine months, marking the longest blackout in american history. it will probably remain forever unknown, the exact number of puerto ricans who lost their lives from maria. earlier