Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency can free up federal funds to coordinate a relief effort in alleviating the “hardship and suffering caused” suffering caused by the natural disaster.

The emergency declaration was announced prior to the Hurricane reaching Puerto Rico.

Fiona has since knocked out all power across the Caribbean island, with torrential rain and the possibility of life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides forecast for Monday.

“Thank you ⁦POTUS⁩ for a swift approval of an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico,” tweeted FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg on Sunday. “This will allow ⁦FEMA to respond and support the island as they experience the extreme weather impacts of Tropical Storm #Fiona.”

The quick response is in stark contrast to the criticism Donald Trump and his administration received in the wake of Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico in 2017, which killed 3,000 people and left residents without electricity or water for several months.

In the aftermath of the disaster, Trump was mocked for throwing rolls of toilet paper like a basketball while visiting a crowd at the Calvary Chapel in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico on October 3, 2017.

The incident arrived as the Trump administration was criticized for a slow response to the hurricane, one of the worst natural disasters in modern U.S. history (especially when compared to the response Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas in August 2017).

Trump was also condemned for calling the government’s response to the hurricane an “incredible, unsung success” despite the mass casualties.

In the aftermath, Trump signaled his reluctance to keep sending relief money to the island, including a 2018 claim that “inept politicians” were using the money to pay off the territory’s debts.

In a 2018 interview with Newsweek, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said Puerto Rico was a “stain” for Trump as the world saw a “lack of humanity, solidarity, compassion and service of an administration that could have helped us but decided not to.”

“Puerto Ricans will never erase from their memory images of Trump throwing paper towels,” Cruz added.

In 2021, a Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General report also found that the Trump administration delayed more than $20 billion in hurricane relief aid, and then obstructed an investigation into why the money was not sent on time.

The report blamed “bureaucratic obstacles” for the delays in the delivery of congressionally approved funding to the island after Hurricane Maria, as well as internal tensions between the Office of Management and Budget and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Trump’s team has been contacted for comment.