Thread by @BillWeirCNN

I have some new reporting on the millions bottles of FEMA water we found going to waste on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico a year after Hurricane Maria forced millions of Americans to drink rain and creek water for MONTHS, triggering an outbreak of deadly leptospirosis...

At first, FEMA blamed Puerto Rican locals. “The way it works is we get the commodities to the state, the commonwealth….Obviously with Maria, we had not a supply issue, we had distribution issues,” they said on a conference call

So I went to see the Governor of Puerto Rico.
BILL WEIR:
How do you explain the-- the millions of bottles of water we found going to waste on that runway down at Ceibo?
GOV RICARDO ROSSELLO:
It's awful. It's awful. I-- I was-- when we got the news, it was very disturbing.

RR “We-- we-- immediately started an investigation on our front. As you may remember-- originally-- FEMA had said that it was our responsibility. We started digging deep...."

"...We started seeing that there were satellite images back in February-- when this water was in the possession of FEMA, where the water was already on the runway."

RR “Why would you take water out of storage and put it on a runway, exposed to the elements? Why would you leave them out there for three months and then say, "Hey, we have excess water?" Why was that water not distributed?”

BILL WEIR:
But isn't that on you? Isn't that on local government to distribute?
GOVERNOR RICARDO ROSSELLO:
Well, if it is good water. But we weren't aware it!

Next, we booked an interview with Micheal Byrne, the head of FEMA operations in Puerto Rico…but he was a no-show.

One member of FEMA P.R. told me that he had to leave due to a 50-week limit on disaster zone rotation while someone else told me he’d been called back to the mainland to help with Hurricane Florence.

Thus, we got Justo “Tito” Hernandez, the next in line.
BW: "How do explain the millions of bottles of water we found sitting on a runway down in Ceiba?"
JH: "Well, that's part of the operation that we had to provide commodities in Puerto Rico….”

JH: “We had excess water, when we actually got to that problem, we were bringing in massive amounts of food and water to the island. We were retaining the water on the tarmac. And we actually identified it as excess back in-- in February…”

JH “But we were continually rotating that water. And so now-- the water is coming back to FEMA, and we are going to process it according to federal procedures and we will actually dispose of it accordingly. And we are investigating also how we got to this stage.”

JH “Because that's a big lesson learned for us. I mean, we were actually trying to be good stewards of taxpayers dollars, but we need to also learn how to protect that inventory at the same time."

BW: Was it a distribution problem where the locals didn't get it out?
JH: No, well—
BW: Was there just too much sent at the wrong time?
JH: Well, if you look at-- you know, b-- back in December, we were still providing food and commodities for 3.4 million people...

JH "We lost the communications. We lost our ability to have assessments. So when we have a situation that we don't have the need identified, we gonna push for everyone in the community...I don't have power. So I have a fragile system…"

BW: Is that water usable? I've heard reports that there was a foul taste and odor--
JH: I-- I cannot-- I cannot tell you right now that the water is good. I cannot tell you right now. Back in May, that water was good.”

Friday night on @CNN, I will present a documentary titled “Storm of Controversy; What Really Happened in Puerto Rico” because if we can’t accurately count our dead and learn from our mistakes, the next big, bad day will only be that much worse.

@CNN And for all of you who leapt to the conclusion that lazy, corrupt Puerto Ricans are to blame for all that water on the runway...I look forward to your Twitter retractions.