{"id":522996,"date":"2026-09-03T10:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/more-than-40-of-puerto-rico-faces-extreme-drought\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T10:11:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:11:00","slug":"more-than-40-of-puerto-rico-faces-extreme-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/international\/more-than-40-of-puerto-rico-faces-extreme-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 40% of Puerto Rico faces extreme drought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Puerto Rico<\/strong>.- The drought continues to intensify in Puerto Rico and now affects 82.91% of the territory<\/strong>, according to the most recent United States Drought Monitor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the island’s total surface area, 40.99% is under extreme drought (D3)<\/strong>, a slight reduction compared to the 44.45% recorded a week earlier. However, the magnitude of the phenomenon remains significant, especially since just three months ago there were no areas classified in this category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, 62.26% of the territory is facing severe drought or worse (D2-D4)<\/strong>, while 75.21% is experiencing at least moderate drought. If abnormally dry conditions (D0) are included, the figure rises to 82.91%. Only 17.09% of Puerto Rico remains free of dryness or drought conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most affected areas are concentrated in the south, southeast, and east<\/strong>, where large areas under extreme drought predominate. The northwest continues to be the least affected region, with municipalities outside of drought categories or under abnormally dry conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also read: Woman faces 321 charges for alleged bank fraud against 94-year-old neighbor in Puerto Rico<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The impact also reaches the population. It is estimated that 3,087,357 people<\/strong> live in municipalities affected by some level of drought or abnormally dry<\/a> conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal aid expanded<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Amidst this scenario, Governor Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez reported that the United States Department of Agriculture approved an additional drought disaster declaration<\/strong>, which brings the number of municipalities covered by federal designations to 38.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barranquitas, Caguas, and Guayama were designated as primary disaster areas, while another 16 municipalities are listed as contiguous zones. The measure allows eligible producers to apply for emergency loans and opens the possibility for qualified small businesses and non-profit organizations to access economic injury loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reservoirs show improvement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although the drought persists, the reservoirs monitored by the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority recorded a generalized improvement, with increases in 13 of the 19 water reserves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carra\u00edzo reached 39.11 meters<\/strong>, 19 centimeters more than the previous day, and remained outside the level of \u201coperational adjustments.\u201d The increase has allowed for a temporary pause in the rationing that affects several municipalities in the metropolitan area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, authorities and experts have warned that this relief could be temporary due to the persistence of dry conditions. The governor has also pointed out that new rationing is not completely ruled out if sufficient rainfall is not recorded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Puerto Rico.- The drought continues to intensify in Puerto Rico and now affects 82.91% of the territory, according to the most recent United States Drought Monitor. Of the island’s total surface area, 40.99% is under extreme drought (D3), a slight reduction compared to the 44.45% recorded a week earlier. However, the magnitude of the phenomenon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133543,"featured_media":522997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[44182,671],"class_list":["post-522996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international","tag-cover","tag-puerto-rico"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2c3q","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/captura-de-pantalla-2026-08-08-122000.jpg.webp","dum_api":{"author_name":"Carolina \u00c1lvarez","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-26-at-5.31.57-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["International"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/captura-de-pantalla-2026-08-08-122000.jpg.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}