Fury upon Puerto Rico

Arriving just before hurricane Irma in the morning of September 6th, the tension around San Juan felt a bit uneasy, yet everyone was calm that we were going to be barely grazed by it. As we sat in the porch, safe from any gust or projectiles, we patiently waited, yet nothing happened from were I was staying. No major gust, it just felt like another rainy day. The electricity went out early and we didn't have electricity in the metropolitan area for about a week, 5 days were I was staying, and some other it never came. Having potable water was another issue for many municipalities in the island, some places never even had a chance to get drinking water or electricity before Hurricane Maria arrived. In the northeastern part of the island, Hurricane Irma was not so kind, taking roof of their homes, increasing tides, flooding areas to the point you couldn't drive, blocking many roads with trees and sand.

As Puerto Rico rebuild from Hurricane Irma we heard news of Tropical Depression 15 or Hurricane Maria. Many thought it was going to stay as a tropical depression other didn't thought it was going to disappear yet we never anticipated that it was going to turn into a hurricane. I remember hearing about hurricane Maria as I waited on a line to get ice bags since we didn't have electricity. When Hurricane Maria reached the Dominica Island as a Category 5 destroying the small island with wind of up to 185mph, hurricane Maria loss strength after the departure of the Dominica Islands and put itself in the trajectory of Puerto Rico as a Category 4 with winds of up to 140mph and right there was when the whole state of Puerto Rico knew we could not get out of this one and we had to prepare for the worst.

My brother and I went to fill our gas tanks on our cars and we found that the gas station had huge lines. No matter where we went there were huge lines at gas stations, bakeries, supermarket and ice plants. With luck we were able to go to one of our favorite bakeries where it didn't took us long to get what we needed. As we bought extra stuff from the bakery we went to our families home to help them secure whatever was loose, mainly the roof on open car garage, and give them the extra stuff we bought at the bakery. After a hard, long day helping secure everything we went to get what little supplies were left on the establishment that were still open. We were able to find a small supermarket were we could find some canned food for at least a week. You could feel the tension in the supermarket when all you could hear is that we were hours before the hurricane arrived to the island.

We secure our cars on our garage, and stowed everything that could possibly fly away. Now all we could do was sit down and wait. My brother and I were amazed that we still had electricity by 10:00pm. By now watching the news was just giving you more tension and building panic since they kept repeating how severe the storm was going to be. We turned off the TV put up some music, and sat on our balcony till the storm arrived. Around 11:00pm the electricity went out yet there were minor winds around our house. By 2:00am you could feel the strong gust ripping our neighbors zinc planks that were used to protect his windows, as safe as I could I tried to go outside to see if I could photograph the movement of the water on the road caused by the wind, and as I stepped outside, one huge metal plank flew as hard as it could and got stuck in front of our gate.

In the picture above you could see the metal plank stuck by the wind on our front gate. If it wasn't for the front gate that plank would have hit the garage gate of our house. The sound was incredibly loud by both the metal plank and the wind. Where that debris came there were more making it unsafe for me to step outside. From the safety of our porch we decided to get inside my vehicle since the water was already getting everywhere in the garage. From there we listen to the radio station as it was saying how we should stay inside specially when the eye was passing, and no matter how calm it looks we shouldn't go outside. After that they received a phone call from the governor of Puerto Rico talking about the danger of the hurricane and how should we stay inside, he was also saying his plan for the next couple of days in the island and reassuring the listeners of the radio station to stay calm. They repeated the same message of the governor and by almost the end of his conversation, the radio communications went out. All you could hear was static. I tried channeling during different stations to see if i could hear something but nothing, every single radio station was out. Astonishingly we found a local AM radio station that was still operational where the radio spokesman Penchi Ramirez was trying to keep calm amidst this storm. After seen my front neighbor loose her porch sunscreen around 7:30am, we decided to call it a night (or morning) and go to sleep.

I woke up around 11:30, maybe 12 in the afternoon because rain was coming inside my room and it splashed me in the face. I hurried up and close the windows and moved all furniture and electronics out of the windows. I also went around the house looking for windows open where the rain could possibly be getting inside. I went into the car and the fury of the winds of hurricane Maria was still at its fullest, with huge gust where you could see the debris as blur figures passing the front of your house. The building that you could see across our porch were gone due to the intense rain making it not visible. As I stated the car so I could listen to the radio and get some A/C brother scared me when he open the car door without me noticing it. The same and only radio station WAPA Radio 680AM was still in the air with the same radio spokesman, he kept receiving phone calls from people to either to calm them down since many were nervous of what was happening to their houses or see if they can relay messages to their families since there were no cellphone signal saying they were fine. Definitely this is by far one of the worst hurricane the island of Puerto Rico have encounter.

By Thursday evening there were still some residual winds and even though they mention in the radio not to go outside, the neighborhood was out assessing the damages to their houses. I went walking around the block and what i saw was something beyond what i expected. Not many people can imagine the damages until you go outside and look at it in person. Even with all this destruction, we all went outside as safely as possible and help clear roads, move debris that was blocking access to the houses of neighbors and lend a hand to those in need. No matter how you even imagine it this is a sad encounter seen homes where family and friends were, totally destroyed. As I described this story to you, is not tell you just an experience is to tell you that amidst the disaster, desperation and destruction there is hope and how a nation united can help rebuild as a country united.