Five years to the day that Hurricane Maria devastated the island, the people of Puerto Rico are faced with another massive recovery effort. NBC 6’s Chris Hush reports
Five years to the day that Hurricane Maria devastated the island, the people of Puerto Rico are faced with another massive recovery effort.
Hurricane Fiona leaves behind a massive trail of destruction after flooding washed away bridges and homes over the weekend.
As of Tuesday afternoon, most of the island was still without power and running water.
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Alex Torres was vacationing in Puerto Rico when the storm hit.
“Right now, everyone is trying to gather as much food as possible,” Torres said. “I was out of power since Saturday. Up until now, we haven’t had electricity, water…”
Torres has been documenting the damage as he tours the island, just outside of Puerto Rico. He had to find a Wal-Mart to gain access to a stable WiFi connection in order to share his findings with NBC 6.
“At night, I couldn’t really sleep because of the thunder, the wind that was hitting the building," Torres said. “I’ve been unable to take a shower, unfortunately.”
It’s unclear when power will be restored to all residents after a system-wide failure during the storm that affected the entire island.
As of Tuesday, power had been restored to less than half of Puerto Rico. Some residents are reporting that water is also being restored.
For others, recovery will be long. Although Hurricane Maria hit five years ago, some residents have yet to fully recover. Hurricane season is not over yet.
“The people of Puerto Rico are still trying to make a recovery from that,” said Torres. “I hope everybody is able to get back to their normal life after this.”
