The Hurricane struck Puerto Rico struck Tuesday September 19 in the evening with
the power going out at 1:27 a.m. for San Juan, but cable kept coming in and out
until about 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning which is better than AT&T at my
house in Cleveland. But the internet
connection and cell phone reception made it all the way through Wednesday
evening at around 1 a.m. I guess some AT&T users were still getting
limited service, but our Verizon service was gone. We have been without connection to
the rest of the world for a little over one day. On the one hand it is liberating not knowing
any of the problems of the world on the other hand it is tough knowing how
terrified the family must be not hearing from us for so long.
There was looting on the first day and the Governor declared
a 6 p.m curfew until Saturday. I witnessed on Thursday September 21 many
ordinary citizens coming together to clear their own streets. There were guys in forklifts pushing debris
away from the road. Then other total
strangers would step in to direct traffic and clean up the loose items. There were neighbors with chain saws helping
out their community and there were new friends comforting those who had lost
trees or parts of their house. Everyone
was out talking and gawking yesterday.
It was a collective sigh of relief that they had made it through the
initial haymaker punch to the island.
Now the desperation and struggle for survival begins with a long road to rebuild.
We went out to see how things looked and only a few
businesses were open including the Wendys, a pharmacy without power, and a gas
station without the ability to sell gas.
Many owners were assessing their losses on the first full day since the
hurricane had passed. There were flooded
streets and fallen palm trees and still no power across most of the city. In a nod to the strength of capitalism, they
were still able to process credit card transactions and the ATM still
worked. The line was out the door at
Wendys and the beach was deserted. We
picked the right hotel with a generator having found that six reporters from various outlets
were also staying here as well. A number of
people in the neighborhood were also here because of the generator. Supplies
were running low on Thursday, but the staff were amazingly cheerful. Our room’s air conditioner did not work and
amazingly the outside maintenance guy showed up to fix it. The fan unit was out
on the balcony that flooded and so our unit in the room was flashing an error
message. How was that possible in an
Island that had so much destruction, no electricity and cut off from the world
could they get the maintenance guy to fix the air conditioner?
We are really one of the lucky few who picked a hotel with a
generator. This could have been a
nightmare otherwise. We briefly lost
water, but that came back on somehow.
People were being patient for the most part and not stressed. The cleaning woman only spoke Spanish so we
were not able to communicate very well with her since we are privileged
Americans who only speak one language and want the rest of the world to all
speak English. She indicated that Puerto
Rico was a beautiful place but the weather is in God’s hands.
Other brief items that we encountered included a dazed
expression from the animals that we met.
Birds were not flying, and the pigeons were all cuddled up in a ball
refusing to fly. The cats were afraid
and searching for food in the rubbish. The lizards were washed away having been
replaced by hermit crabs that were washed ashore. The public art did not fare well with much
destruction of all the public art that we saw.
The beaches were again deserted places with the hotel managers and security
near the beach attempting to assess the state of their establishments. People were driving around looking for
supplies, charging their cell phones, and getting some air conditioning on this
first full day of doing without modern conveniences. Many were traveling around
with windows blown out in their cars, but the boats at the marina did
surprisingly well. I was glad to see that locally owned Macchiato Coffee shop
was open but stuck up Starbucks was not and they lost much of their sign. Take that you big corporation. Coffee is not a big thing on the island like
it is on the mainland.
I did not see much of a public response or many charities out helping. There were some police now on the streets directing traffic, but mostly driving around with their lights on. I wrote all this at the end of the day when we still had power, but no internet service and no cell service. What was the Commander and Chief doing on Thursday September 21? Was he circling the island looking down from Air Force One like Bush did in New Orleans? No. Was he at Digital Command Center of the American Red Cross on the day of the Hurricane like Obama did for Hurricane Sandy? No. 45 slept comfortably in Trump Tower, met with the President of Afghanistan and Ukraine then had a number of meetings on North Korea before retiring to his golf course in New Jersey which had power, running water and opulence. The people of Puerto Rico were hoping he was on the phone ordering supplies and generators to the island.
One Tweet on Puerto Rico:
Governor @RicardoRossello-
We are with you and the people of Puerto Rico. Stay safe! #PRStrong
Many Tweets about an election in Alabama and plans to hold a political rally on Friday while US Citizen in Puerto Rico were trying to survive, Houston and Florida were rebuilding, and the US Virgin Islands was digging out.
Looking forward to Friday night in the Great State of Alabama. I am supporting "Big" Luther Strange because he was so loyal & helpful to me!
by Brian Davis
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