City activist Carmen Medina walks through the working-class community of Tranquility Village in the scorching sun with notes, survey forms and a pen in hand, along with a group of officers trying to gauge the extent of the disaster caused by the strike in the city. Hurricane Fiona. She was part of a small army. Puerto Rico.
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She stopped in a foamy white greenhouse and asked the owner to describe the damage suffered during the storm, which flooded much of the city of Toa Baja.
“Oh my God,” replied Margarita Ortiz, a 46-year-old housekeeper parked in a nearly sterile house because much of the flood-damaged stuff had already been thrown away.
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On Friday, pockets of water still protruded from his ceiling, a newly painted house, and Ortiz listed what he could remember of his furniture and other lost items.
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After several days in a shelter and with a friend, she hopes to return home soon: “When you lose your bed, you lose your mind.”
Fiona hit southwestern Puerto Rico on September 18 with winds of 85 mph (140 km / h) and widespread flooding across the island, which had not yet recovered from the 2017 Hurricane Maria, a powerful cyclone that it hit US territory and destroyed the power grid, which has since been repaired but not completely rebuilt.
The Puerto Rico government said it expects a preliminary estimate of damage to Fiona in about two weeks.
On Sunday, about 45% of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million electricity customers remained in the dark, and 20% of 1.3 million water customers had no service as workers had to reach substations. of submerged power lines and repair the demolished lines. He had to fight.
Gas stations, grocery stores and other businesses are temporarily closed due to lack of fuel for the generators. The National Guard first sent fuel to hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
Carmen Rivera said: “We are starting from scratch as he and his wife drew water and dumped their damaged equipment, leaving piles of rotting furniture and dirty mattresses on the streets.
Although located on the other side of the island from which the Eye of Fiona descends, Toa Baja was particularly hit because the Plata River, the longest in Puerto Rico, overflowed into a city of over 74,000 inhabitants.
Flood water breaks the 5-foot mark in Riviera’s wood and concrete house. He wondered if he could get financial help and when.
“I work for the municipality and what I earn is not ‘Whoa’,” he said.
Toa Baja officials estimated it would take a month to complete a door-to-door survey to determine the damage so people could get financial help.
For some, it wasn’t just about the financial loss, as people also took the opportunity to describe their stress.
“I see emotional exhaustion in people. It’s a “here we go again,” said Gretchen Hernandez, a social worker who was overseeing investigations across the city.
Many people have been forced to throw away their food due to power outages, and some have turned up to help their neighbors.
More than two dozen cars were parked in Toa Baja, where Aida Villanueva distributed food to other members of the community: grapes, croissants, chicken, rice, vegetables, etc.
74-year-old Anna Butters arrived before dawn for a meal, complaining about the lack of official assistance.
“Nobody stopped near my house,” said Butters, who lives in the nearby town of Dorado.
Someone in line thought aloud what people without electricity would do with such a free chicken. Another shouted, “There will be a barbecue tomorrow! And the crowd laughed.