PUERTO RICO — Isaias brought heavy wind and rain to southwest coastal Puerto Rican cities Thursday, causing flash flooding, before becoming a hurricane early Friday.

Guayanilla Mayor Nelson Javier Torres Yordan said the earthquakes his city was hit with earlier this year made the flooding a lot worse. Many homes were damaged, and the majority of residents were without power. He said there is another challenge — sheltering families during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“For now, we have enough food, water and sanitation supplies to keep the people in shelters safe, but there are concerns if what we have will be enough if it was a hurricane. A hurricane would devastate our city,” he said.

In the nearby coastal city Mayaguez, the national guard was deployed to help residents impacted by the floods. The Trump administration approved an emergency declaration from Puerto Rico’s governor.