Salvation Army personnel from Massachusetts stand ready to assist the victims of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico, the charity said Monday.
Heather MacFarlane, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army’s Massachusetts Divisional Headquarters, said in a statement Monday evening that “our teams are currently on the ground in Puerto Rico helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.”
In a phone interview Tuesday, MacFarlane and Chris Farrand, the Salvation Army’s emergency disaster services director for Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, clarified that the charity personnel currently providing aid in Puerto Rico are based there full time, but Massachusetts personnel remain on standby.
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“We’re invested [in helping] for as long as it takes,” MacFarlane said. “As many months or as many years as it takes.”
Fiona knocked out power to the entire island when it hit its southwest corner on Sunday. Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers — two thirds of the island’s total — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said.
By Tuesday morning, authorities said they had restored power to more than 285,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers but warned it could take days before electricity returns fully. After devastating Puerto Rico, Fiona blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm.
Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services was “meeting immediate needs for Hurricane Fiona survivors and first responders ... through feeding, sheltering, charging, clean-up support, emotional and spiritual care, and other services as widespread power outages and flooding continue to impact the area,” officials said.
The assistance includes providing meals and water to first responders, operating charging centers where people can charge electronic devices like cell phones, laptops, and portable medical equipment, offering free meals to island residents, and making clean-up kits, diapers, blankets, and clothing available.
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“We anticipate a significant expansion of our relief efforts in the next few days as the storm system subsides and the community’s needs become clearer,” officials said.
Those wishing to aid the relief effort can make donations online or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769). Mail donations can be sent to The Salvation Army, Gift Processing Center, PO Box 3095, Harlan, Iowa, 51593-0159, with donations marked ““Hurricane Fiona Relief.”
In Puerto Rico Tuesday, National Guard Brig. Gen. Narciso Cruz described the flooding caused by Fiona as historic.
“There were communities that flooded in the storm that didn’t flood under Maria,” he said, referring to the 2017 hurricane that caused nearly 3,000 deaths. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.