The best images of Fiona's visit to Puerto Rico 0:57
(CNN) --
Exactly five years after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, another catastrophic storm is testing the federal government's ability to mount a rapid response on an island exposed by its rudimentary infrastructure and vulnerability to climate change.
The Biden White House is mobilizing a surge of assistance after Hurricane Fiona unleashed torrential rains, severe flooding, mudslides and power outages.
Echoes of 2017, when Maria caused more than a couple thousand deaths and left tens of billions of dollars in damage, haunt local residents who are still in the process of rebuilding their homes.
Some whose homes have been flooded may face the prospect of having to start over.
Hurricane Fiona live: news, last minute and how the cyclone affects Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic
"It's been a catastrophic rain that just won't stop," Robert Little, the coordinator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the island, told CNN's Erin Burnett, as the government relief effort began to ramp up.
"The FEMA team has been ramping up since we got the call to come here."
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A rain-swollen river from Hurricane Fiona speeds through Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
(Stephanie Rojas/AP)
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A man stands near a flooded road in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
(Melvin Pereira/AFP/Getty Images)
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A man walks through a flooded street in Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
(Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters)
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A flooded road is seen during the passage of Hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Photo by MELVIN PEREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)
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Fiona touched Puerto Rico at 3:20 pm on Sunday local time, according to information from the United States National Hurricane Center, leaving a general blackout and overflowing rivers.
(Photo by Melvin Pereira / AFP) (Photo by MELVIN PEREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)
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A power grid failure caused by the storm caused an island-wide blackout.
Authorities expect it to take several days to fully restore service.
(Photo by José Rodríguez / AFP) (Photo by JOSE RODRIGUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
The effort builds on an enhanced federal presence on the island since Maria, when the Trump administration was heavily criticized for a messy response and for applauding itself despite a tragedy that unfolded for months as technicians struggled to restore the grid. electrical.
Although they often seem ignored in Washington, Puerto Ricans are US citizens who live on a US island territory and are entitled to assistance from the federal government.
Detailed damage assessments from this storm were still being compiled early Tuesday, but some residents said the terrible flooding and mudslides were reminiscent of the devastation wrought by Maria.
The arrival of the latest hurricane was especially cruel as many Puerto Ricans have fallen on hard times since 2017, struggling through dark chapters of storms, earthquakes, the pandemic and political turmoil.
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"This is devastation upon devastation," former San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room."
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday night that while most of the damage five years ago was caused by gale-force winds, the problem this time is the volume of rain.
But while the power grid was repaired after Maria, it hasn't really improved, he said.
Still, Pierluisi added, "We are much better prepared now than Puerto Rico was five years ago when Hurricane Maria hit us. Just to give you an example, FEMA now has four warehouses located throughout Puerto Rico instead of one."
'We're halfway there'
Fiona causes about 76 centimeters of rain in Puerto Rico 1:54
Millions of residents lost power as Fiona approached.
And after crossing the Dominican Republic, where it left a million customers without running water, it is now a major hurricane expected to pass near the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday.
At least two people in Puerto Rico have died as a result of Fiona, a spokesperson for Pierluisi told CNN.
One was a 58-year-old man who was swept away by a river.
Another man was killed when his generator caught fire as he tried to fill it with gasoline.
Hurricane Fiona track live: where is it headed?
Conditions are challenging because many medical centers were running on emergency power.
Downed trees and power lines made it difficult for patients to reach hospitals.
The National Guard and emergency services rescued about 1,000 people overnight Monday as rain lashed the island.
As President Joe Biden flew back from London and Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, he called Pierluisi from Air Force One to promise strong support.
He said 300 federal employees were already on the job and the number of support staff would increase substantially as damage assessments are completed.
The president promised that the federal team would stay as long as necessary "to get the job done," especially as many families were still rebuilding after the nightmare that followed Maria, a deadly Category 5 hurricane that left many residents without electricity for months.
Biden directed FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to travel to Puerto Rico on Tuesday to meet with local officials and citizens and assess urgent needs, the White House said.
One man, Juan Miguel González, lamented the impact of a storm that ruthlessly undermined the rebuilding work of many Puerto Ricans.
"We haven't come back completely, we're halfway there. Many people, more than with María, have lost their homes... now because of the floods," González told CNN's Leyla Santiago.
Emergency aid and political risks
Activate emergency plan to help Puerto Rico 4:23
The main thrust of the White House and government emergency management agencies is always to keep casualties and loss of life from a storm to a minimum.
Then the cleaning and rebuilding begins.
Every hurricane brings potential political dangers for presidential administrations.
A late response or signs of indifference or misdirected aid can cause days of unflattering news coverage with the potential to stall political momentum, such as that currently enjoyed by Biden.
How you can help the victims of Hurricane Fiona
Ever since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico coast in 2005 and exposed a disastrous disconnect between the George W. Bush administration and local authorities, White House teams have been alert to the possibility of a political backlash from poor management of natural disasters.
And they go out of their way to emphasize cooperation with local authorities.
Or at least most of them do.
Another hurricane hitting Puerto Rico has revived memories of former President Donald Trump's response to Maria, when a video of him throwing paper towels at an aid distribution center became the epitome of an oftentimes relief effort. indifferent.
The former president, however, gave himself an excellent rating for his response, despite the fact that more than 2,900 people, according to the Puerto Rican government, were later revealed to have died from the impact of the storm.
Trump also reacted to criticism by lashing out at local media and officials, in a preview of how he would prioritize his political aspirations over sound disaster management during the coronavirus pandemic.
Yulín Cruz, who frequently clashed heatedly with Trump after Hurricane Maria, said the people of Puerto Rico collectively suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after successive disasters, but that a strong response from the federal government could help ease their trauma.
"The federal government and President Biden have a great opportunity here to show the world how things are done when they are done right," he said.
After the immediate relief effort, Washington will likely be called upon to offer more long-term help to Puerto Rico's residents for another rebuilding effort.
But former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said the lesson from previous natural disasters was that turning things back to the way they were wouldn't work.
Video captures collapse of a bridge in Utuado, Puerto Rico, due to flooding from Hurricane Fiona 1:25
"The insanity of going back and leaving it the way it was is not working," Fugate told CNN on Monday.
“We have to really focus on making the investments where we are going to rebuild, how we are going to rebuild. Because the climate has changed, how we have been rebuilding and developing has not caught up yet,” he added.
Although 2022 has been a relatively benign hurricane season so far, such storms feed on warm ocean water and moist air, and scientists say the climate crisis is making them more powerful.
The proportion of high-intensity hurricanes has increased due to warmer global temperatures, according to a UN climate report released last month.
Scientists have also found that storms are more likely to stall and deliver devastating rain and last longer after landfall.
Hurricane Fiona