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(CNN)Hurricane Maria whipped Puerto Rico with Irma-level winds, drenched the island with Harvey-level flooding, crippled communications, decimated buildings and damaged a dam that puts downstream residents at risk of catastrophe.
Yet help has been slow to come, officials and residents argue.
"This is a game changer," Governor Ricardo Rosselló told CNN Monday. "We need to prevent a humanitarian crisis occurring in America."
Some residents described the devastation in their communities as "apocalyptic."
Rosselló urged Congress to approve a commensurate aid package as the US territory, already hammered by a prolonged economic crisis, tries to get back on its feet.
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The Governor joined others in emphasizing that Puerto Rico is a US territory whose residents are American citizens.
"We need something tangible, a bill that actually answers to our need right now," Governor Ricardo Rosselló told CNN on Monday. "Otherwise, there will be ... a massive exodus to the (mainland) United States."
Rosselló also was joined by leading Democrats in calling for swift action to help the battered US territory. Hillary Clinton urged the Department of Defense to send a Navy medical ship to the crippled island, while Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for Republicans to join with Democrats to pass a robust relief package.
Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico officials describe 'apocalyptic' conditions
"The Trump Administration must act immediately to make available additional Department of Defense resources for search-and-rescue operations, law enforcement and transportation needs," she said in a statement Monday. "Our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands deserve to know that their government will be there for them, without question or hesitation."
President Donald Trump has pledged federal help for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. A White House official said Trump is planning to visit Puerto Rico, but a date has not been set because of infrastructure concerns on the island.
Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert and FEMA administrator Brock Long will travel to Puerto Rico Monday, according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
Airplanes and ships loaded with meals, water and generators have been arriving or are headed to Puerto Rico and other affected Caribbean islands, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.
More than 10,000 federal employeees are in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin islands helping with research and rescue efforts and moving goods, FEMA tweeted.
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10K+ empleados federales están en Puerto Rico & USVI ayudando con los esfuerzos de búsqueda y rescate y mover bienes. #Maria [: @USArmy]
11:00 AM - Sep 25, 2017
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In a tweet Sunday, Clinton said, "President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens."
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President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens. https://twitter.com/samynemir/status/911401368983924736 …
11:04 AM - Sep 24, 2017
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The Guajataca Dam
Puerto Rico also faces a more immediate danger.
The Guajataca Dam in the island's northwest corner is releasing water after suffering a "critical infrastructure failure" following the Category 5 storm.
"Some of the dam has fallen apart," Rosselló said. "Now we are making sure that we can assess if the other part will fall down as well. It represents a great danger for about an estimated 70,000 people."
Residents below the dam were told to evacuate on Friday, according to the National Guard. With more than 95% of wireless cell sites out of service, authorities had to physically go to thousands of homes to warn people of the potential collapse.
Federal response to Hurricane Maria slowly takes shape
The governor also got a first-hand look when he went officials to assess the situation Friday.
Rosselló said that while most people in the vicinity had evacuated, efforts were still underway to get people out in peripheral areas.
"My action has been to order evacuation," he said. "I'd rather be wrong on that front than do nothing and having it fail and costing people their lives."
The Guajataca Dam suffered "infrastructure" damage following Hurricane Maria.
Communications cut
Without power and communications in much of the island, millions of people, including city leaders and first responders, have been cut off from the world since Maria hit Wednesday.
Rosselló said cell service is "critically limited."
"Essentially only the metropolitan area has infrastructures, " the governor said Monday, adding that their priority is to get antennas into areas that are still not communicating.
"It is as if Puerto Rico got hit with the strength of Irma's winds, leaving a trail of devastation worse than much of the destruction Irma left in Florida," said CNN meteorologist Judson Jones.
"The rainfall in some areas of Puerto Rico rival the amounts of rain left by Harvey in Houston. And now they are contending with a dam disaster that is reminiscent of California's Oroville Dam crisis earlier this year."
After flying over Puerto Rico Sunday, CNN's Leyla Santiago said residents could be seen along the highways searching for a cellphone signal.
"The island from above is a completely different color" due to the lack of trees, Santiago said, while pools are filled with black water and debris. The storm ripped the roofs of houses, exposing their interiors to the sky, she said.
Authorities who flew over the island Saturday were also stunned by what they saw. Roads are completely washed away and others are blocked by debris, isolating residents.
"It was devastating to see all that kind of debris in all areas, in all towns of the island," Jenniffer González, the island's non-voting representative in Congress told CNN.
"We never expected to have a lot of debris in so many areas. A lot of roads are closed, older ones are just gone," she added.
Hurricane Maria ripped roofs off many houses.
Hospitals crippled
At least 10 people have been confirmed killed by the hurricane.
A doctor at Canovanas Medical Center -- one of the few hospitals with a working generator -- said they were running out of fuel to keep it going. Dr. Norbert Seda told CNN that the center only had 2-3 days left of medical supplies and medicine.
None of the three hospitals CNN visited had running water and all said they had just days of supplies left.
However, earlier, the Gov. Rosselló guaranteed that the people of Puerto Rico would have access to enough food and water to survive.
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So , Florida is in the path of hurricanes annually too. You think they gon make the millions here relocate?
