In Puerto Rico, threat was far from over when winds subsided
North coast’s residents huddle in shelters— or endure the floodwaters
Glenda Fuentes thanked God and considered herself lucky when Hurricane Maria’s battering winds finally subsided. One of the most catastrophic events ever to hit Puerto Rico, she thought, was over.
Then the water came, battering her home in waves and quickly filling every room of her house. Within an hour, waist- high floodwaters had swallowed her home.
“It was disastrous,” said Fuentes, 58, who lives in the Miñi Miñi area of Loíza. “It came all at once and went through the entire house.”
Hurricane Maria tore through the middle of Puerto Rico early Wednesday with 150 mph sustained winds, splintering homes and crippling the island nation of 3.4 million. But floods brought on by the storm have been equally destructive and deadly.
Along the north coast, places such as Loíza, Levittown, Toa Baja and Vega Baja were hit by deadly floods. People scrambled to rooftops as floods unleashed by the storm enveloped entire towns, and rescue teams fought through the storm’s lingering winds to reach them.
In Toa Baja, one of the worst- hit places, more than 4,000 people were rescued from the floods, many from rooftops, local officials said. At least eight people drowned there, including a family of four that sheltered in their home from the storm, an elderly couple, and a state policeman and his son, Mayor Bernardo “Betito” Márquez told El Nuevo Dia. “Rain, lots of rain,” Márquez told the news site. “The swells go up and down but don’t go back out to sea. They stay. So the water just keeps rising.”
The storm crippled this island nation, leaving many communities completely cut off by floodwaters and impassable roads. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would open an air bridge from the mainland Friday, with three to four military planes flying to the island every day carrying water, food, generators and temporary shelters.
But many residents aren’t waiting for help. The hurricane dumped mounds of sand from beaches onto Route 187, the main road connecting San Juan and Loíza that runs along the coast. On Thursday, bands of young men carrying machetes and hatchets hacked sections of Route 187 free, while bulldozers pushed the sand into heaping piles on the shoulder.
Roberto Bermudez, 56, lives on that road. He was set to ride out the storm in his one- story concrete home with his wife and mother- in- law. But as Maria’s winds intensified, he saw the palms bend down nearly to the ground and the sea start to swell over Route 187. He put the family in the car and raced to higher ground in San Juan.
“I’m brave, but what was coming our way was braver,” Bermudez said.
In Loíza, a staging area was set near a school that doubled as a shelter for displaced residents. National Guard troops and state police mingled with worried residents. Just down the street, floodwaters still engulfed the neighborhood of Miñi Miñi. Some people waded into the water to return to their homes or search for loved ones.
High- water trucks brought residents out of the flooded area. Others, refusing to leave, waited on the second story of two- story homes as contaminated floodwater circled their homes.
On Thursday, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló met with the city’s mayor and spoke with displaced residents. One was Fuentes, who said the shelter had run out of cots and water and had no baths. She was considering returning to her flooded home and riding out the disaster there.
“This is worse than my home,” she said, standing outside the shelter. “I just want to go home.”