Festival provides distraction, celebrates island’s discovery
The train-like roar of Hurricane Maria’s winds won’t soon fade from Jennifer Spicer’s memory. Nor will what she saw in its aftermath.
After riding out the Category 4 in a condo in Puerto Rico, she learned a family down the street drowned in floodwaters and other homes in the area were engulfed by water from an overflowing canal.
“It was so unbelievable, everything was completely destroyed,” said Spicer. “It was a beautiful island, but not anymore.”
After returning to Florida where she lives, she decided to host a festival celebrating 524 years since Puerto Rico was discovered at Orlando’s Festival Park. She hoped it would serve as a distraction for families who evacuated to Central Florida from the island or those who
have family still there.
Traditional Puerto Rican salsa music blared through the park as dozens of families sang and danced along Sunday afternoon.
“I’m trying to let people know that 524 years of the discovery of Puerto Rico and [there are] many more to come,” Spicer said. “They’re not done.”
It’s been two months since the island was blasted by Hurricane Maria, leaving catastrophic damage to Puerto Rico’s electrical grid and infrastructure in its wake. Only about 50 percent of the island has power restored thus far, and it could be weeks or months before significant progress is made.
This has led to more than 140,000 evacuees fleeing for Florida, as local officials are seeing a strain on housing resources, classroom space and human services.
Earlier this month, Gov. Rick Scott hosted a roundtable with local elected and emergency management officials in Kissimmee to hear what needs communities have with the recent growth.
In Osceola County, schools have seen more than two elementary schools worth of students enroll after the storm, superintendent Debra Pace said at the Nov. 12 meeting.
Scott promised more lodging help through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and better communication between federal, state and local agencies.
Even still, some Central Florida families are feeling the financial strain as they try to send generators and other supplies to their family who didn’t leave.
Darlene Ramirez said her 76-year-old father remains in Toa Alta, the city west of San Juan where he lives.
While his concrete home made it through the storm intact, the hit to the island’s communications tower has made it hard for regular phone calls.
“It’s like a bomb went off; it’s like an earthquake,” said Ramirez, who was selling her handmade lace products at the celebration. “They still don’t have power or running water.”
At the festival, Salsa singer Hector Pichie Perez said he flew into Orlando to perform in hopes of bringing families together with his message of positivity. While conditions have improved some, he said people still need water, non-perishable food and clothing.
“It’s baby steps,” he said through a translator.
Spicer, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, said she was in Puerto Rico for the storm because she was helping take care of her brother who had been hit by a car a week before the hurricane struck.
After it blew through, she was stranded in Puerto Rico for two weeks until she was able to get a flight out.
Her brother later flew to Florida to stay with family and get treatment for his two broken legs — but she knows not everybody was so lucky.
“When I was in Puerto Rico, the people were kind of devastated,” Spicer said. “But you can see the spirit and they’re trying to move forward.”