MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Trump approves emergency declaration. "

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

O`DONNELL: We have breaking news at this hour about Hurricane Dorian which could hit the East Coast of Florida this weekend as a Category 3 hurricane. We will have an update on the storms trajectory that 11 p.m. But first President Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands, after heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Dorian left parts of the islands without power. The three US Virgin Islands - St. Thomas. St. John and St. Croix are east of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was spared the worst of the hurricane this time. Joining us now is someone who has dealt with tropical hurricanes before, especially the government response to hurricanes. Joining us now by phone is Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands. And Congresswoman Plaskett, do we find you in St. Croix tonight?

REP. STACEY PLASKETT (D-VI) (via telephone): I am. I`m home on St. Croix. I`ll be heading to the island of St. Thomas in the morning with our Governor Bryan with our Governor. St. Thomas, as you are probably aware, received the brunt of the hurricane as it made its way in U.S. territories of the Caribbean.

O`DONNELL: With the President declaring a state of emergency there, do you expect FEMA to be on location? Will you be able to meet with FEMA officials tomorrow in St. Thomas?

PLASKETT (via telephone): Well, I have met with FEMA officials already on St. Croix this morning. We have over 200 federal personnel on the ground right now. We really did try to do an relief preparation for the storm and whatever it would be, particularly because of the fragile state of our own infrastructure here after hurricanes Irma and Maria. So there are number of federal agencies were already here. FEMA was working and working very closely with the local government to prepare for this hurricane. We tried to anticipate that the hurricane would be worse than it was so that we would be (inaudible).

O`DONNELL: And that`s just two years ago that you`re talking about the other devastating hurricanes that hit St. Thomas. And had St. Thomas completely recovered from those two from the two years ago hurricanes?

PLASKETT (via telephone): No, they have not. So we will say some devastation two years ago, with Irma hitting the island of St. Thomas and St. John and then Maria coming less than two weeks later and really wiping out the island of St. Croix. So we face this situation where we`re working with FEMA, working with HUD. As you are aware several weeks ago HUD said that we we`re going to slow down the mitigation funding that we were already anticipating receiving. We`re trying to rebuild now from those other hurricanes. And so we were concerned about what would happen, not only to those individuals we have over maybe 1,200 homes that still have only roots in the Virgin Island between this main island (ph), but also on the infrastructure. I came an hour ago from a hospital on St. Croix. We have one operating room operational after the devastation two years ago of Hurricane Maria on the island of St. Croix (inaudible) ventures in both of our islands. So we`re concerned about what this tropical storm would have done. I think we`ve weathered it very well. Our Governor is working very closely with FEMA to ensure that there people on the ground to ensure that our most vulnerable families and individuals, (inaudible) and tomorrow we will quickly getting on the ground to do an assessment of those who may have had severe damage.

O`DONNELL: Congresswoman, Stacey Plaskett, thank you very much for taking the time on this very difficult night for the islands to join us with your reporting and letting us know what`s been happening. We really appreciate it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source