Hurricane Maria: The Aftershock By: Emily Ortega

Puerto Rico is an island near the United States located in the Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico experiences many hurricanes and tropical storms a year. The most catastrophic storm/ hurricane was Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Maria was a category 5 hurricane and lasted from the 16 of

September to the 2 of October 2017. Hurricane Maria was known as the worst hurricane in 80 years.

Lydia Sandoval, Administrative Secretary at Harvey, has family in Puerto Rico. She lived in Puerto Rico for four years. Much of her family still lives in Puerto Rico. Since Hurricane

Maria, many families and villages are still without power. Lydia stated, “My family, in ​ particular, was without power for about 6 months.” When Hurricane Maria hit, it was a hard time for the family and people that live in Ohio because the connection was hard to reach. Families did not have power until a year after Hurricane Maria passed. On the other side, Lydia said: “My family, in particular, was without power for about 6 months and then it was still unstable”.

Having consistent connections with her family took about a month due to the towers that had been destroyed. Even though Hurricane Maria was a few years ago, it still has a large effect on the people who live in Puerto Rico. The most recent Hurricane that has had a lot of damage to

Puerto Rico was Hurricane Dorian. Lydia stated that, “The recovery process will take many years.” The reason behind this is there are still roads that have not been repaired, so transportation to and from some villages is compromised. If the roads permitted, her family would travel to San Juan to be able to obtain a signal in order to use their cell phone. Certain days provisions were being delivered, and they traveled to receive theirs. In the central parts of the island, cell phone connections were almost impossible to get. You had to get your point across quickly because the phone calls would drop at a moment’s notice. Regular contact happened about a year in, once cell phone towers were repaired. Homes are still without adequate if any repairs, especially those home deep in the mountains. Many families today still do not have running water because of the effects of Hurricane Maria and Dorian.

Even though many lives were taken during both Hurricane Maria and Dorrian Lydia's family was okay. “Thank goodness there were no injuries in my family. They were very lucky in that respect as many of their neighbors did suffer injuries or lost loved ones.” This shows how your life can be changed with a snap of a finger. Many emotions were running through Lydia’s head. The main emotion was desperation because they were trying to achieve contact with the family. The last call they made was the evening before saying “pray[ers] with our loved ones over the phone and to say our ‘I love you’.” After Hurricane Maria, they were able to get in contact and they had many emotions going through their minds such as sadness, worry, anxiety, and hope.

During Hurricane Maria, many belongings went missing from the high powerful winds, rising of water, mudslides, and trees falling. One of the things that Lydia’s family lost during the

Hurricane was a family sign that said: “ Familia Rivera” which means family Rivera. This sign always brought her happiness because of all of the good memories she had. Even though they lost the sign, many others and the family lost practically everything. They lost crops, important documents, family pictures, and livestock.

During the interview, I asked Lydia if she still lived in Puerto Rico would she stay in

Puerto Rico or move away? She stated, “ I would probably move to the more developed part of the island like San Juan because it is more prepared for the Hurricane season.” The island was not prepared for Hurricane Maria because they did not have time to get the necessities needed and the proper protection for their families. When Dorian was going to hit Puerto Rico, the island was taking the same precaution that they wish they had. For example, they were able to get the supplies and try to make their village safe. After hurricane Maria, Plantains, banana plants, coffee plants, guava, avocado, mango, and tamarind trees were among many of the trees and vegetation that were lost. Coconut trees take 10 years to grow. The vegetation was taken by mudslides and flooding. The most recent Hurricane Dorrian, caused the vegetation that they grew in between both of the hurricanes to get washed away.

Overall, Hurricane Maria has had a great effect on Puerto Rico and a lot of devastation.

Even though many of the people in Puerto Rico are still trying to recover the things they lost, they are still taking precautions because another Hurricane could hit during the hurricane season.

Many families have been reunited since hurricane Dorrian and more villages are more secure and stable during the season.