JESSICA RINALDI

Stories: After Maria

  • Morovis, Puerto Rico -- 9/30/2017 - Outside of San Juan, signs of Hurricane Maria are everywhere. A countryside once lush has been entirely stripped of its foliage in Morovis.
  • Yabucoa, Puerto Rico -- 9/29/2017 - In Yabucoa where Hurricane Maria first made landfall, the metal roof and viewing stands from a basketball court across the street were deposited onto Carmen Charriez's home. The family of five, including a nephew, rode out the storm by hiding in a hallway for hours. Nine days later they were still sleeping in plastic lawn furniture in their garage, fearful of their roof collapsing.
  • Arecibo, Puerto Rico -- 10/01/2017 - When a river surged it drowned many of the cattle and calves at the Ortiz Rodriguez Dairy Farm in Arecibo. With at least 180 cattle and another 100 calves dead, Alfredo Crespo, a friend of the owner, wondered if the farm would ever recover. “But this isn’t just bad for him,” he said. “The entire island relies on agriculture, and without this, there will be big problems.”
  • Toa Baja, Puerto Rico -- 9/30/2017 - In Toa Baja, on the island’s northern coast, bulldozers worked to clear mud from the streets as families were digging out, trying to salvage the few belongings that were left. Geraldo Rivera, 51, helps his neighbor move heavy furniture out of his home which was ruined by flood waters.
  • Corozal, Puerto Rico -- 10/01/2017 - Lit by flashlight, men wait in the back of a truck to collect water from a natural spring in their village.
  • Caguas, PR -- 9/29/2017 - By 9am more than 500 people were waiting in line to use the ATM outside of Banco Popular in Caguas. Without power, cash was the only option for purchasing the scarce supplies that were available to local residents. Long lines were everywhere in cities like Caguas, some lasting for days for essentials like fuel, food, water, and even laundry.
  • Caguas, Puerto Rico -- 9/29/2017 - Myriam Ruiz waits inside the emergency room where her father, Luis Alberto Ruiz, is being treated after attempting to hang himself with his belt. When Myriam found him behind their home, she began to scream. Moments later, two neighbors rushed over and helped pull his limp body down from the roof. There was no way to call an ambulance, so they carried him to their Jeep and sped to the hospital. Her father’s medical problems had gotten worse in recent weeks, she explained. He kept worrying about all the trouble he was causing her, and told her he would take care of it. “There was a lot of stress at the house,” she said. “The hurricane put him over the edge.”
  • Corozal, Puerto Rico -- 10/02/2017 - Victor Ruiz's daughter reaches out to place her hand on her father during his wake in Corozal. After the wake, Ruiz's family gathered in a humid chapel, where a short-sleeved priest apologized for the lack of air conditioning and music. He noted how three of Ruiz’s children who live on the mainland were unable to come to the funeral, as it was too hard to get a flight after the hurricane. “We won’t let this get us down,” the priest said.
  • Corozal, Puerto Rico -- 10/01/2017 - In Corozal, people who got tired of waiting in long lines for water took matters into their own hands. Using PVC pipe to connect to a natural spring they filled containers with much needed drinking water. More than a week after Hurricane Maria devastated the tropical island with 150 mile-per-hour winds and heavy flooding much of the island is still struggling. Millions of people remain without electricity, food, or water that is safe to drink.
  • Arecibo, Puerto Rico -- 10/01/2017 - With aid and supplies slow to come to this corner to the island, scores of residents in Arecibo like Deborah Estremera, came to bathe and wash their clothes in one of the few available spigots of fresh water here. They knew it was unsafe to drink but still filled jugs so that they could flush toilets and clean their homes.
  • Arecibo, Puerto Rico -- 10/01/2017 - Jose Antonio Lopez’s dairy farm lost roughly 300 cattle in the storm. With many of his fences swept away, he hired wranglers to find the survivors that had escaped. Many of the cattle who remained were sick. Their grazing fields were now covered in mud and debris. Much of their alternate food supply had been destroyed and would likely have to be imported. The hurricane had cost his business some $6 million, Lopez estimated. “We need help,” he said. “We need it from the federal government.”
  • Toa Baja, Puerto Rico -- 9/30/2017 - Ten days after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Eric La Luz, 15, and his family were still doing the mentally and physically exhausting work of cleaning out their home. Almost everything in the home was a total loss, but they were eager to move out of the shelter they were living in and get back home. Using a rectangular plastic tub they dragged bin after bin of mud and debris out of their home in Toa Baja.
  • Yabucoa, Puerto Rico -- 9/29/2017 - Carmen Charriez, 71, has been sleeping in this chair in her garage since Hurricane Maria hit. Due to the storm's damage to her house, she felt unsafe moving back in.
  • Corozal, Puerto Rico -- 10/02/2017 - Orlando Gonzalez holds his daughter, Nahielys, inside a mausoleum at their neighbor, Victor Ruiz's funeral. After the storm had knocked power out on the island, Ruiz had been using his car to charge the machine that helped him treat his emphysema. When he started to run low on fuel he went to a nearby gas station. He had waited over 35 hours in line when a nearby explosion sent a plume of smoke up into the air, causing the gas station to be evacuated. Ruiz made it home, but died in his car before he could get out. The death count has not included people like Ruiz, whose death was an indirect result of Hurricane Maria.
  • San Juan, Puerto Rico -- 10/01/2017 - A child, forced into the street with her family to escape the heat inside their public housing apartment, held onto one of the few sources of light in a blacked out San Juan. Nearly four months after Hurricane Maria first made landfall an estimated 40 percent of Puerto Rico is still in the dark.
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    • A Life Unraveling
    • An Overwhelming Loss
    • Home now, but for how long?
    • After Maria
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    • The Unforgotten
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