Washington — Puerto Rico needs immediate aid from Congress to avoid a "humanitarian crisis" after Hurricane Maria, to prevent "thousands if not millions" of residents from flocking to the US mainland, governor Ricardo Rossello said on Tuesday. "There needs to be unprecedented relief for Puerto Rico so that we can start the immediate effort right now with deployment of resources but also the mid-to long-run recovery," Rossello told MSNBC. Rossello’s call came a day after President Donald Trump said Puerto Rico was in "deep trouble" as hurricane devastation adds to the debts that have already pushed the US territory into bankruptcy. The hurricane, the worst to hit the island in nearly a century, caused flooding, washed away roads and knocked out power to its 3.4-million residents by heavily damaging the state-run electricity system. "Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble," Trump tweete...

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