Five years after Maria, Fiona puts us to the test again.

I didn’t think I’d be celebrating the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria in the middle of another hurricane. I received Fiona on Sunday right where she moved in, in the beautiful municipality of Cabo Rojo, on the west coast of Puerto Rico, at my father’s house. I remembered him more because he died two years ago, but it’s been five years since we lived through the “Maria” nightmare together.

I must admit that I have some post-traumatic stress on the subject of hurricanes. As soon as I see a small dot that meteorologists give a chance to develop, my anxiety begins. I have very vivid memories of the disaster trail “Maria” left behind.

So now, when they told me that Fiona had turned into a hurricane, I was overcome with longing. And although he was a category 1 when he entered the island, the wind force of 85 miles per hour, and at times over 100 miles, was amazing. The fury of the wind shocked me. As in Maria, large objects were flying outward, including huge tree branches and zinc plates, as if they were made of paper. The rain is plentiful, constant, endless.

The expected general power outage didn’t fail and it’s on an island of constant power outages even when the sun is shining. I wonder what our already battered energy grid looked like and how this new atmospheric phenomenon will affect us. “Maria” my father and I spent in San Juan, and in this apartment the light was restored for almost four months.

I’m also wondering what happened to families who, five years after “Mary”, still had FEMA blue awnings instead of roofs; This was due to bureaucracy, exacerbated by the refusal of the then Donald Trump government to allocate funds, arguing that it was “corruption”, although in that case the corruption they cited was not committed by any Puerto Rican, but by an American official from FEMA. But I digress.

At least we know that this time President Joe Biden won’t be throwing rolls of paper towels at us like Trump did five years ago.

It’s incredible that five years after Maria, we still have a lot of the same problems as we did then. It was known that the reconstruction of the power grid or the development and implementation of plans for the use of renewable energy sources will not happen overnight. There are many factors involved, including the Financial Supervisory Board, which ultimately authorizes what is or is not done in Puerto Rico. This hurricane caught us in the middle of the public’s disgust at LUMA Energy, which has taken over the reins of power distribution and transmission on the island, especially because of the high cost of the service, which is constantly out of order.

Of course, this is not new, under LUMA or before. “Maria” has identified the shortcomings of our power system, in particular the lack of maintenance, from equipment to the removal of plant material, which, on an island where it constantly rains, mercilessly covers poles and power lines.

In other words, after “Maria” the system was patched up, which was already fragile, collapsed and is now suffering another blow.

Unfortunately, five years after Mary, we are still at this stage when it comes to energy production and distribution, but I am glad to see that there is some progress, especially in how the population is prepared, although for some sectors such level of preparation is ridiculed.

I am also happy to see that more and more people of all generations are looking for other options such as solar energy.

When I was finally able to go outside on Monday morning to check on the damage, my heart skipped a beat. I am surrounded by water, garbage and a lot of destruction. There are trees blocking streets and highways. As I write this, I don’t know what else has happened on the rest of the island, but I do know that here in Cabo Rojo, at least where I am, Fiona’s fury has been devastating.

But, like five years ago, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start cleaning not just garbage, but the soul. We must resist because, unfortunately for everyone, climate change will intensify and increase these phenomena.

Author: Maribel Hastings
Source: La Opinion

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