Overcoming Hurricane Maria

September 16, 2017 is a date that will forever be remembered by Puerto Ricans. This was the day that everything changed, the day that Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Before Maria I had never seen a real hurricane. Everyone prepared as well as they could by buying water and large supplies of canned food, putting panels over the windows and protecting their homes, but nobody knew exactly what to expect. I was nervous for what was coming, but little did I know how bad it was going to be. It was one of the worst and most horrifying experiences I have ever gone through.

At times I thought the house was going to collapse, but luckily there was not a lot of damage to the house. During the storm I opened my window and tried to record, but the intense showers of rain did not allow anything to be seen. Due to the loud noise of the wind I was barely able to sleep. The next day, I woke up in the afternoon, feeling very disoriented; the first thing I did was check if my family was alright, gladly they were. Relieved that my family members were fine, I went downstairs to check the house and found that the water had entered through the windows and front door, flooding the hallways. We stayed home the next day and waited for everything to be safe. When we were finally able to leave the house we drove around the community to see the damage. I was surprised  to find everything was pretty much intact, except for the park which was completely destroyed. There were tree branches and residue everywhere.

When we were able to go on the main roads and highways I realized the great amount of damage this hurricane had done to our island. Houses and trees had been completely detached from the ground, certain areas were flooded with feet of water, people were trapped in their houses and the island was left with little vegetation. The roads were blocked by street lights, posts and cables. I felt as if I were in an apocalypse movie. After seeing the damage that this natural disaster had caused, I realized that the situation we were about to face was going to be extremely difficult. Other than the destruction and floods that María caused, there were other consequences such as: scarcity of gas and food, the excruciatingly long lines to buy food and water, shortage of fundamental supplies, lack of working hospitals and pharmacies and the loss of electricity. These troubles caused people to panic and react in frantic ways, it was a catastrophe.

The loss of electricity made it impossible for people to contact their family members, leaving everyone in suspense and frustration. Many patients in hospitals died, as an effect of the power outage. It became so chaotic that the government had to set a curfew because they were many reports of people stealing and even murdering to find the necessary resources. People began to flee in from the island in search of their necessities, for example chemotherapy and dialysis patients which were left untreated. After Maria nothing was the same, it seemed we were living in the olden times, as if we had been thrown back in time.. Puerto Rico was going through a crisis and the people were clearly not dealing with it in the correct manner. I feared that we would never recover from this disaster and was concerned for what the future had in store for us, but as the weeks passed the conditions began to improve. It has been around two months since the hurricane and things are moving at a much faster pace than I expected.

I finally have electricity and running water, but up to this day there are still people that lack water, electricity, clothes and food. The main resources are slowly becoming  as accessible as before. This has been a very eye-opening and impacting experience. This hurricane caused pain and grief, but it also taught us to deal with what we have, help one another and forced people to take a very much needed break from technology. During these harsh times I have learned to be grateful for everything I have. Experiences like these serve as an opportunity to learn and mature. Although it has been rough, this situation has pushed the people of Puerto Rico to unite and work harder than ever. I hope that this island will never have to go through a situation such as this ever again, but if it does happen I will be calm and patient because I have learned that patience is the key to progress and that improvement comes with time. Keeping a positive and optimistic mindset I have faith that our island will overcome this obstacle. The marks that this hurricane has left on the island will forever serve as a reminder of our strength and capacity.

Works cited:

• Batista Cruz, Gian J. Narrative essay on Hurricane María Class assignment UPRRP 30 November 2017.