Hurricane Maria
It's been nine years since Hurricane Maria, an event that changed our lives forever.
(blog was previously posted)
20th September 2017
We always felt ready for hurricanes. We had survived Hugo and Georges and felt we were prepared. We had friends visiting from New York who felt they would be safe at TJ Ranch. Our roofs were tied; we had water wells and generators…..what could go wrong? Then came Maria.
The Storm
Maria started at night and lasted all day. Rain was blowing into the house and I was scared the windows were going to blow in. We peaked out and saw metal roofs flying around and we had a lake in the driveway.
When the wind stopped
When the storm was over, we were in shock. TJ Ranch looked like a war zone. Our tool room’s wall was blown out and tools were all over the place. The guest room roof was gone and the room was flooding. Our tree house fell over; the water well was torn apart; the pool fencing collapsed and the restaurant and kitchen had large holes in their roof. Of the three casitas, one had its roof blown off and walls shifted off its foundation. We found sheets of the galvanized roofing on the other side of the farm…and the barn was just a skeleton.
Getting Out
We didn’t even try to leave the house for 3 days; our entrance was blocked and we had no idea what it was like in the outside world. It was then when two friends showed up hiking 6 hours through thigh high mud. We greeted them teary eyed with a million questions and then we worked our way out to check on our neighbors.
What's there to eat?
We couldn’t run generators 24 hours so it was a constant pressure to make sure our food didn’t spoil. Unlike most people, we had food for the restaurant...alot of food. Tony was chef extraordinaire making meals for our guests and meals for the family. We had conch, lobster, octopus, pork, steak and frozen foods in the freezers and salad stuff, mayonnaise, mustard, salad dressings in the refrigerators. We ate well…very well…but it was very stressful. Finally, the business freezer broke and we were running with food to the house and crossing our fingers.
Some people were not so lucky. With no electricity for the water pump in the neighborhood or refrigeration in their houses, people were needy for supplies. Our daughter would bring home medical supplies from the animal shelter where she worked that needed refrigeration.
MRE - Meal Ready to Eat:: Rations for Combat or Disasters
After ten days food and water were delivered to our area by helicopter and distributed to each family by truck. We heard helicopters daily…the electric company with poles hanging and the police checking the area.
Cash
I always wondered why you needed cash before a storm. Communications were down, banks were closed, ATMs didn’t work, traffic lights were out. Hardware stores were out of materials and grocery stores had empty shelves. You couldn’t buy anything without cash. No one took checks. It was CASH ONLY for quite awhile.
Communications
We were lucky that our DISH TV and Hughesnet internet were working because we could stay informed and inform others. Since cell towers were down, many people hadn’t communicated with family so our house became an internet cafe for the neighborhood. If you could see smoke, then the generator was on and neighbors were welcome.
Our friends’ 4 day stay turned into two weeks, but three days after they left, the smoke no longer rose. Our generator had died so we lit candles and used solar lights.
We still had a little gas generator which could run the refrigerator but we had no water. We did buy another generator that could run the well. Living in the country it’s easy to bathe outside with a watering can. I wouldn’t want to do it for long, but it was actually fun at first. I didn’t have to get to a job; I didn’t have little kids to get to school or entertain and I don’t need nice clothes for anything….so being a frontier woman was somewhat invigorating for awhile. My heart went out to those who lived in “urbanizations”, air-conditioned houses set side by side…….trying to stay cool, bathe, prepare food while dealing with family and listening to generators all the time.
It would be 7 months before our community had electricity; we went solar and had electricity in 6 months. We could finally turn our generator off.
One year later
In August 2018 I wrote:
It’s been almost a year since life changed in Puerto Rico. It’s easy to look back, but more difficult to look forward. I think we chose wisely to concentrate fixing things at our house and leaving the business for later. We’re relieved to be off the grid. The pool is better than ever, having replaced the 25 year old motor for one that is variable speed. The lattice and fencing is up and the deck has been repaired and repainted. The water well is housed in a new room and the barn is roomy, sturdy and ready for future projects.
And that’s where my thoughts hit a stand still.The restaurant and casitas are still untouched.
The yellow casita makes my heart sink. Flowers and vines invading the openings where screens once were reminding me that “doing nothing” is giving permission to the jungle to take back its land, so soon we’ll start working on our “business in the back”. For what purpose? I don’t know yet, but we can’t leave it and do nothing.
Nine years later
We finally fixed the business. It took a long time to get the insurance money (not enough) and a long time before construction materials were on the island...so it was good we waited. Things finally got fixed; some things stayed the same and some changed...for the better, I hope.
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