Puerto Rican judge at dog show talks about devastation in his homeland
Shortly before his arrival in Nova Scotia, Johan Becerra-Hernandez experienced one of the most frightening times of his life.
Becerra-Hernandez was one of the judges at the Cobequid Dog Club show, which was held in Bible Hill during the weekend. He lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, right along the path of Hurricane Maria, which struck the area last month.
“It was one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever been through,” he said. “We heard the wind whistling and we would hear a crack when a tree broke, and pray a big tree wouldn’t hit our house.”
He was at home with his wife, 17-year-old son and their dogs when the storm struck. Because power and communication systems were knocked out they were unaware of what the situation was across the island.
When the storm was over, trees were down, roads were blocked, livestock was running loose and there was no electricity, gas, water or phone service.
“There is an overwhelming amount of devastation; it’s just unreal, said Becerra-Hernandez. “What was green is now brown. When you drive it’s like another place; nothing looks the same.”
Flies and mosquitoes appeared in large numbers and bees, whose homes had been destroyed, were going into people’s houses. Birds appeared confused because of
the loss of trees.
There were no streetlights and a 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was imposed.
Becerra-Hernandez said there was a lot of crying but feels his family was lucky because they had a generator and weren’t injured.
He saw the good following disaster, with people sharing what they had (including use of generators) and getting to know their neighbours.
For several days they were unable to get gasoline and when stations reopened people often
waited in line for 10 hours, not knowing whether there would be any fuel left when they reached the pumps.