After nearly one week since Hurricane Maria raked its way across PuertoRico, credit union organizations on the mainland continue to haveproblems receiving updates from the island. According to an emailconversation sent to CU Times between WOCCU officials andChristopher Morris, director of communications for the NationalCredit Union Foundation, “Communication has been virtuallyimpossible.”

As of now, CUAid is still active for credit unions located onthe U.S. mainland that were impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma,but so far the disaster relief fund has not been activated forcredit unions in Puerto Rico. According to Morris, “Puerto Rico isa unique situation” and discussions about relief work between WOCCUand the National Credit Union Foundation are still ongoing asinformation from the decimated island has been slow to arrive.

An NCUA spokesman said agency officials have heard that of theeight credit unions in Puerto Rico and five in the Virgin Islands,two are 50% operational, three are not operating and the rest havenot been able to report.

On Sunday, the Liga de Cooperativas de Puerto Rico, whichrepresents the island-insured credit unions said it could notassess the condition of the institutions because of communicationproblems.

There are 116 cooperativas holding $7.9 billion for nearly onemillion members on the island.

In an email sent to CU Times late Mondayafternoon from Phil Tschudy, spokesperson for CUNA MutualGroup, he stated, “Communications and power outages continue to bechallenging in addition to the widespread devastation. It's verydifficult situation. We continue the process of connecting withcolleagues, our customers and their families to ensure theirwell-being and to address their needs.”

According to a tweet posted Monday afternoon by JetStreamFederal Credit union, “The JetStream Puerto Rico branch willre-open September 26th with limited hours and services from9:00-2:00 pm until further notice.” JetStream FCU is one of the fewcredit unions CU Times has been in almost regular contact with since the hurricanehit last week. The JetStream FCU branch is located in Carolina,Puerto Rico which is just east of San Juan.