Vice President Pence and Jenniffer González visit the National Hurricane Center to inspect jobs and new technology

Miami, Florida- Congresswoman Jenniffer González Colón, traveled again with the Vice President of the United States, Michael Pence on Air Force 2, this time to inspect the National Hurricane Center and discuss with the employees the expectations ahead of this hurricane season by assessing the capabilities of the center and ways in which they can collaborate on weather forecasting efforts.

Congresswoman inquired about the collaborative work between the Center and Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and the necessary tools in both areas to monitor the weather. One of these instruments is the Doppler radar in Puerto Rico that was destroyed after Hurricane Maria and took almost nine months to fully reconstruct the radar.

"Having a well-functioning radar in Puerto Rico is crucial to any weather tracking endeavor. We must ensure that the new radar, which provides data for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other countries in the Caribbean is modern and capable, within the proper technologies, to withstand similar extreme weather incidents providing officials in the Island the necessary tools to educate the residents of the islands about the weather projections, "said the congresswoman.

The Congresswoman asked about the information on how the funds that were approved totaling $ 200,136,000, for the entire nation including Puerto Rico and the National Meteorology Center for reconstruction of facilities, equipment such as radars and satellites, improvements, debris removal and others have been allocated.

"The invitation from Vice President Pence to join him in visiting the Center, is evidence of how important it is for this administration that Puerto Rico is ready to face any other atmospheric event. This visit represents the demonstration of the new technology available for Puerto Rico and the Caribbean when detecting weather conditions to be more prepared to face any atmospheric event. Today they showed me areas that are more prone to impacts for each category of hurricane, thus allowing to plan with up to 36 hours in advance. I want to thank President Trump and Vice President Pence, who was the first person to greet me when I arrived in Washington DC after Hurricane Maria, for his sensitivity to the American citizens in my district and for his help in allocating funds and resources for Puerto Rico where we still work in the reconstruction, "said Jenniffer González Colón.

The Vice President and the Congresswoman, the only member to join the Vice President on this trip, received a briefing from Dr. Ed Rappaport and Dr. Mike Brennan, from the Hurricane Specialist Unit; Chris Landsea from the Tropical Analysis Forecast Branch offered a briefing as well; and listened to a presentation from Jamie Rhome of the Forecast Branch Storm Surge Unit.

They were accompanied by Dr. Neil Jacobs, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.