"Shame on President Trump," says Congressman Adriano Espaillat. "Puerto Rico is one of Trump's most significant failures to date!"

"There is nothing worse than people that don't want to hear the truth," said Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. And the truth is this: "The Trump administration failed the people of Puerto Rico."

"The U.S. treats Puerto Ricans as second class citizens," notes the ACLU. "Thousands of lives were lost because of it."

One NOAA oceanographer warns that even if humanity "stopped the greenhouse gases at their current concentrations today, the atmosphere would still continue to warm for next couple decades to maybe a century."

"If we want to keep our country safe, Trump should take military advice from the military, not fossil fuel executives who are pushing to deny climate science and boost their profits at any cost."

President suggests crisis not a "real catastrophe" and jabs islanders for costing government "a lot of money"

"Washington must abandon its austerity agenda and support the removal of all manmade obstacles to Puerto Rico's recovery and reconstruction."

Until the U.S. island's colonial status "is rectified," wrote one observer, "it's a safe bet that Puerto Rico will never fully recover."

While pushing for a shift to green energy, the Sunrise Movement also said that "the catastrophic flooding and loss of power are the result of colonial policies that put profit over the people of PR."