We temporarily lost water this morning as I was doing
laundry in the sink. I am sure that there are people who are dealing with that,
but I sure did not want to go through 3 days without water. I had already taken a shower. We still do not have cell service, but some
on the island do. Can’t reach the
family or anyone for that matter. We have tried to call or text a friend living
on the island without success. Most
people do not have electricity, so we at least are able to play computer games
and use the word processing.
The cable has been out since the first day. The internet went down on Wednesday night
around 2 a.m. but last night we were able to watch a Netflix movie. Don’t know anything about the airport or the
electrical grid. I can’t read the paper
or communicate very well. We again
walked around the neighborhood and took picture of some of the
destruction. It is going to take a year
to recover. We visited a neighborhood
with lots of graffiti surrounding the Miramar neighborhood including an open Burger King which had been tagged over
the last two days during the hurricane.
The Wendy’s was open and serving today, and the drug store had no power, but was letting people shop one at a time with a flashlight and then had a
credit card machine powered with a long extension cord.
We saw buildings with the roofs ripped off and those with
significant damage. We saw a number of
homeless people who had weathered the storm, and we saw a great many bewildered
people. The beach front hotels did not
do well except for some reason the Vanderbelt Hotel which looked great and seemed to have made it through the storm. It is right on the beach and they had some
broken glass and the roof was partially blown away but not so that it did any damage inside. When compared to the rest of the area, they seemed as though they could continue to function. Sotherbys lost their “h” and the Cartier shop
did not do well. Ben and Jerry's saved
their outdoor decorative plants, but lost their windows.
Walking through the destruction, I am going to be very upset
if any Congressman says that we need a tax cut in the next couple of
months. We need a plan to rebuild Puerto
Rico and replace their electrical infrastructure. They need a massive rebuilding plan to take
down all the damaged buildings so that the private sector can rebuild. This could be an opportunity to come together
on an a massive infrastructure bill with Houston,(a Red State), Florida a Red
State and Puerto Rico a Blue State along with the Virgin Islands all needing a
massive infusion of federal help. All
Americans should support a tax increase to help these citizens recover from
these three natural disasters striking the United States within a month.
I am going to ask Senator Brown and Portman to support a
Hurricane rebuilding plan if I get back to the States in the near future. We need to send much support to this
country. We did see the US Military
vehicles surveying the Island today.
Time to pitch in and restore the electrical grid. On every street and on the faces of every
citizen of Puerto Rico, Maria has left her mark.
by Brian Davis
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