Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico's education secretary, Julia Keleher, says the few schools that are open are providing basic services. But there's still so much work to be done.

A small number of Puerto Rico's schools have opened again. Two in San Juan are facing different challenges, but communities in both came together to provide a sense of normalcy for children.

Hacienda San Pedro had harvested just 2 percent of its beans before Hurricane Maria blasted through. The ripple effects will continue — it is expecting to run out of beans in December.

Nearly 90 percent of Puerto Rico is still without power more than two weeks after Hurricane Maria. Authorities say it will take months to restore electricity, as the storm destroyed the power grid.

A church in Utuado, in Puerto Rico's central mountainous region, is open for a community reeling from the effects of Maria — including deaths from landslides, lack of electricity and blocked roads.

The president told Fox News "you can say goodbye" to Puerto Rico's $73 billion in debt. But the White House quickly walked back the remarks.

"I think that it makes no difference in our situation right now," said one resident. Said another: "Any help is welcomed considering the situation in which we find ourselves in, be it large or small."

Many houses in the Old San Juan neighborhood of La Perla flooded or collapsed completely, leaving people homeless and sleeping in the ruins.

'I need a strong house,' say Angel Joel Alvarez Lopez, whose roof was ripped off his home. Rain is pouring in. Now, he's looking ahead to months of building and trying to determine his next steps.

Like in many other parts of Puerto Rico, cell service is slowly returning and waters are receding in Playita after Maria's devastation. But for the residents there, the progress is painfully slow.

"You must leave now," thousands of Americans from Puerto Rico to Oregon to Florida, Montana, Texas and beyond were told, as floods, fire and wind threatened their lives. Some said no.

After the DHS chief says the recovery effort in Puerto Rico is working, the mayor of San Juan explodes in frustration, asking, "Where is the good news?"