Millions of water bottles sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria never reached their intended recipients, The Hill reported on Wednesday. FEMA told CBS News correspondent David Begnaud on Tuesday that a vast amount of relief water had never been distributed. Begnaud had tweeted that the bottles were sitting on a runway in Ceiba, an eastern municipality bordering the Atlantic Ocean. FEMA told Begnaud that it had turned the water over to the central government. Puerto Rican photographer Abdiel Santana had captured images of piles of water bottles. "Although you don't believe it…almost a million boxes of water that were never delivered to the village," Santana write in a Facebook post. BREAKING: What may be millions of water bottles. meant for victims of Hurricane Maria, have been sitting on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, since last year, according to @FEMA, which confirmed the news to me, late tonight, after pictures, posted today on social media, went viral. pic.twitter.com/jidGJAvCyJ — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) September 12, 2018 Begnaud wrote about the aid failure the same day that President Donald Trump described the recovery effort a success. "I actually think it was one of the best jobs that's ever been with respect to what this is all about," Trump told reporters Tuesday at the Oval Office. "The job that FEMA and law enforcement and everybody did, working along with the governor in Puerto Rico, I think, was tremendous. I think that Puerto Rico was an incredible, unsung success." The president said his government's response was praiseworthy, because the island already had infrastructure problems before both hurricanes, Irma and Maria, struck the island. The storm and its subsequent impact killed nearly 3,000 people, according to a study from researchers at George Washington University. Hundreds of thousands of people lacked power for months, and essential food and clean water aid was slow to reach isolated areas in the commonwealth. Damage caused by flooding, rain and winds that reached 155 miles per hour resulted in $90 billion in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz repeatedly criticized and pleaded with the Trump administration to provide more aid after the devastating storm, which prompted an exodus of 200,000 Puerto Ricans to the continental U.S. 2,431 applications for funeral assistance were submitted to @fema after María. Only 75 approved. Oh yes Mr Pres another sign of success? — Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 12, 2018 Cruz issued an incredulous response to Trump's comments on Tuesday. "Success? Federal response according to Trump in Puerto Rico a success? If he thinks the death of 3,000 people [is] a success God help us all," she wrote on Twitter. Last month, The New York Times reported that the National Guard failed to distribute 10 trailers of food, water and other supplies donated after the hurricane. The Government Accountability Office described the FEMA effort as "the largest and longest single response in the agency's history. As of April 2018, FEMA had obligated over $12 billion for response and recovery for Hurricane Maria (see figure below) reflecting the scale and complexity of efforts given the widespread damage." But the report also criticized the response, noting that FEMA struggled with logistical challenges and a lack of preparation to effectively provide aid after a Category 5 hurricane, particularly during a heavy hurricane season. A FEMA report assessing the response to the 2017 storm season noted that the agency was not prepared to respond to crises outside the continental United States and was hindered by too few workers, an understocked warehouse and a lack of organization.<doc-sep>Instead of being given to hurricane survivors, bottles were left out to rot. At least a thousand pallets of water bottles, meant for Hurricane Maria survivors, were left to rot under the Puerto Rican sun. That is what Angelo Cruz Ramos, the mayor of Ceiba, told ABC News about what happened to thousands and thousands of water bottles that are sitting on the tarmac at the former naval base, Roosevelt Roads. Cruz Ramos did not know the water was there and only found out when the images, posted to Facebook on Sept. 11, went viral, he said. The area is a restricted zone, so he is not been able to approach it. Because the bottled water has been under the sun for months, all the water is contaminated and is not suitable for consumption, Cruz Ramos said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed to ABC News that the water was purchased by the federal agency and was determined to be a part of a surplus of supplies in April. The excess supply was transferred to the island's General Services Administration, FEMA said. Puerto Rico's General Services Administration said back in May that the agency received around 20,000 pallets of water through a federal government program to distribute excess supplies, the agency said in a statement to ABC News. After delivering more than 700 pallets, they received complaints about the smell and taste of the water from a municipality, the GSA said. The GSA are working with FEMA and the island's department of health to perform water tests on what they got from the federal government, the GSA said. They added that they will be returning the water to the federal government. Ramos is not sure who is at fault. Because there were supply planes arriving at airport in Ceiba hundreds of times after the storm - off loading food and water, he wouldn't know when this water actually arrived on that tarmac, he said. "The government of Puerto Rico did not receive the water to distribute during the emergency, it was under FEMA's custody and it wasn’t until April 2018 that the surplus inventory was available upon request," Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s secretary of public safety, announced at a press conference in San Juan on Wednesday.<doc-sep>FEMA has confirmed that a huge stockpile of bottled water, sent to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, has been sitting on a runway for a year - despite Donald Trump branding the US response an incredible success. Photos of the consignment were shared online by photographer Abdiel Santana who estimated there were possibly millions of water bottles sitting on a runway in Ceiba. Santana, who is a photographer for a Puerto Rican police agency, questioned why the water was left sitting there unused and not delivered to hurricane survivors. READ MORE: Puerto Rico raises death toll of Hurricane Maria to 2,975 from initial 64 Santana said he first saw the water consignment in October last year and was maddened to discover that it was still there. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told CBS News that the water was distributed to the central government of Puerto Rico as part of hurricane relief efforts last year. Mr. President, @fema has confirmed to @CBSNews that water (possibly million of bottles) sent by FEMA to Puerto Rico - and turned over the govt of Puerto Rico - has been sitting on a runway in Ceiba, PR, since last year - unused. https://t.co/Y7gCCIJpNmhttps://t.co/R5bfsU0jol — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) September 12, 2018 Jose Andres, a chef who prepared millions of free meals for islanders following the hurricane, said his team were aware of the stockpiles but not allowed to access it. He called on the governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rossello to launch an official independent investigation into the incident. My teams @WCKitchen@natemook@ErinSchrode knew about it but first they will say no we can not use them, months later water was no good for human consumption.We were “buying” water because they wouldn’t give it to us @ricardorossello we need an official independent investigation! https://t.co/FG2bainoVD — José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 12, 2018 It comes as President Trump cause outrage by claiming that the US response to Hurricane Maria was “an incredible unsung success.” In a further statement, Wednesday, Trump said his administration did an “unappreciated great job” in supporting Puerto Rico despite the inaccessibility of the island, poor electricity and an “incompetent mayor.” The 3,000 people who died in Puerto Rico would probably differ with Trump's self-assessment that he did "an unappreciated great job" https://t.co/0L8FZvTVxu — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2018 3,000 died waiting for help in Puerto Rico waiting for help. The response was a failure, and this Congress has been derelict in refusing to investigate.This is not about you. Lies and bluster will not help as we focus on preparing for Florence. https://t.co/YMNZsT19TD — Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) September 12, 2018 Nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico, likely in part because of the administration’s ineptitude, and he’s still upset that people aren’t giving him more credit (and is still taking jabs at the San Juan mayor who rightly said they weren’t doing enough). What a gross man. pic.twitter.com/0GHPIVsgSH — Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 12, 2018 Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20 2017.Initial figures from authorities recorded 64 deaths however last month the US territory estimated the death toll stood at 2,975, making it the deadliest storm to have hit Puerto Rico since the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane. The administration’s efforts in Puerto Rico were widely criticized as slow and insufficient.<doc-sep>
(CBS NEWS) — The federal response to Hurricane Maria is under scrutiny again after photos show what appear to be millions of water bottles meant for victims of the storm still sitting on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The photos began circulating on social media Tuesday, the same day President Trump again praised the government’s response to Maria during a meeting with top DHS and FEMA officials. Marty Bahmonde, a senior official at FEMA, confirmed to CBS News’ David Begnaud that the agency delivered the water to the island. From there, the details are unclear. Bahmonde said they don’t track specific shipments of water bottles so it’s not clear when they were delivered or what became of the bottles after the delivery. BREAKING: What may be millions of water bottles. meant for victims of Hurricane Maria, have been sitting on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, since last year, according to @FEMA, which confirmed the news to me, late tonight, after pictures, posted today on social media, went viral. pic.twitter.com/jidGJAvCyJ — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) September 12, 2018 Begnaud spoke with Abdiel Santana, who works with the Puerto Rico state police agency FURA. Santana says he took the photos on Tuesday because he was angry to still see the bottles sitting there. Santana, who posted the photos to his Facebook on Tuesday, said he first saw the bottles there in either October or November of last year. The General Services Administration (GSA) says it requested excess water inventory from FEMA through the United States GSA Surplus Property program. In total, it claimed about 20,000 pallets of bottled water that the federal government reported having in excess. In a statement, the GSA Administrator for Puerto Rico, Ottmar Chávez, said FEMA “reported that it had an excess of bottled water in May 2018, before I became the agency’s administrator.” Chávez said he only became aware of the bottled water on Tuesday and does not know why it is there, how it got there or how long it has been there. Now, he’d like to give it back to FEMA because his agency has received two complaints about the taste and smell of the water. Chávez added: “These bottles were claimed by [GSA] in May 2018 for delivery to municipalities, agencies and various entities. The delivery that included 12 municipalities and WIPR was initiated. After having delivered more than 700 pallets, [GSA] received several complaints about the smell and taste of the water received from FEMA.” Chavez said he was in contact with FEMA and the Department of Health to test the water. Puerto Rico’s governor last month raised the U.S. territory’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975. The storm, which devastated the territory last September, is also estimated to have caused $100 billion in damage. © 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.