Read anything interesting in the news lately? No, really. I’m still catching up, because for much of the past week, I was vacationing in lovely Cook Forest, Pennsylvania, during which my access to the internet was limited to whatever stretches of 4G could be obtained amid supply runs to town. This was indeed lovely—an…
On the morning of September 21, 2017, Carlos Lago and Justina DĂaz Bisbal emerged from their household into a post-apocalyptic world. Their once-lush five-acre fruit farm in southern Puerto Rico was entirely stripped of its foliage. Tree limbs were broken or twisted; pieces of metal from nearby homes, trash, and even…
Ruth Santiago Nieves arrived in Massachusetts from Caguas, Puerto Rico, just a few days after Christmas last year. The 47-year-old suffers from a range of health problems, including diabetes, legal blindness, and depression. She, her husband, and their 16-year-old son couldn’t stay on the island any longer without…
The anniversary for Hurricane Maria is a little over a month away. Despite all the time that has passed, the Puerto Rican government has still failed to finalize a proper death count for the many islanders who lost their lives directly or indirectly from the storm back in September.
For those who’ve lost their homes since Hurricane Maria, the hits keep rolling. Over the weekend, more than 1,700 people displaced by the Category 4 storm nearly lost aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They were temporarily rescued when a court ruled Saturday to extend the housing assistance…
Puerto Rico is finally taking its energy system private. Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed a bill Wednesday to sell pieces of the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (PREPA). The system’s been in shambles since Hurricane Maria hit last year, and this is seemingly the governor’s final attempt to salvage it.
Puerto Rico’s still reeling from the shock of Hurricane Maria, a disaster that may have led to the death of thousands. Nearly nine months later, doctors and physicians are alerting the public to another hidden health crisis: asthma.
Hurricane season has returned, and Puerto Rico isn’t ready. Even a small hurricane could mess up the power grid again, throwing over 3 million American citizens back into the dark.
The official death count for Hurricane Maria stands at 64 in Puerto Rico. New research shows that number is hugely flawed, and that the real death toll could be up to 70 times higher. The revised count would make Maria the deadliest storm in modern U.S. history.
We’re 10 days out from the 2018 hurricane season, but if a new NASA-led aerial survey is any indicator, Puerto Rico’s forests and wetlands still have a long way to go before they’ve recovered from the last one.
ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO—Carlos Garcia lives in a tiny trailer right along Puerto Rico’s northern coast. A long-time community activist and avid environmentalist, Garcia keeps his door open during the day to let in the sun and breeze. He shuts it at night to protect his solar setup and the few appliances it powers. He…
When Puerto Rico went dark a couple weeks ago, Mayra Nieves Rosa didn’t even notice. She was too wrapped up working from her home office in the San Juan metro area. It’s not like her lights went out.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is still dealing with last year’s hurricane season—and the 2018 season is less than two months away.
Darkness has fallen on the island of Puerto Rico. All 1.5 million customers of the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority are currently without power.
As the sun came up on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria, it was clear life would be forever different. Weak, old electric grids reliant on outdated infrastructure were basically wiped out by Category 4 winds, and the replacement process dragged on to the point that it became the worst…
ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO—In the six months since Hurricane Maria, 67-year-old Aileen Román RodrĂguez has struggled to rebuild, to re-establish her routine, and to regain a sense of security. Her one-story, concrete-walled home in the seaside town of Arecibo remains largely uninhabitable. Up and down RodrĂguez’s street,…
ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO—The drive to the Arecibo Observatory from San Juan is breathtaking in both beauty and treachery. The hour-long journey follows a roller-coaster-like path of humps and switchbacks through the dense tropical forest on what should be, but is not, a one-way road. Houses remain covered in tarps,…
It’s been six months since Hurricane Maria tore apart Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Island’s electrical grids and turned life on the islands upside down.
Though Puerto Rico might no longer dominate the headlines the way it did in the days and weeks after last year’s hurricane season left at least 1,000 people dead, there are still countless more people on the island who are still fighting to piece their lives back together. In the spirit of rebuilding, comics creator…
You won’t find any more shelters in Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria survivors. The island closed its shelters for good Friday, March 9, nearly six months since the storm struck the U.S. territory, according to the Puerto Rican Department of Housing.
