Hurricane Fiona Hit Puerto Rico Five Years After Hurricane Maria

Maria Gonzalez, Website Editor

As hurricane season (June 1 through November 30) continues to wind down, devastating disasters have hit the Caribbean. Just five years after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the island was hit by another hurricane.

Last September, Puerto Rico was hit by a devastating hurricane named Fiona. Hurricane Maria was a category 5 hurricane, while hurricane Fiona was a category 4. Exactly five years after Maria, history repeated itself. Hurricane Fiona left Puerto Rico in almost the same condition as when Hurricane Maria hit.

Hurricane Fiona (Photo: Flickr)

With all the other issues going on in Puerto Rico, the hurricane made things much worse. Puerto Rico has been having constant blackouts throughout the island. With limited resources, the island was put into survival mode. Power outages plus hurricane Fiona has made surviving difficult, especially for those in the hospitals that run on monitors. Houses and buildings flooded and were destroyed, bridges were torn down, trees were blown down, and electrical services were wiped out.

 

Governor of Puerto Rico: Pedro Pierluisi (photo: Creative Commons)

Many Puerto Ricans completely lost their homes and their belongings, including their pets. The damage wasn’t something new and the effects were the same or worse. After the hurricane, the governor of Puerto Rico refused to provide the citizens with aid. So many Puerto Ricans asked for help but they were refused help by Governor Pedro Pierluisi. Governor Pedro Pierluisi claims that they don’t need any help, but in reality, they need all the help they can get. People lost their homes, their belongings, and they have gone weeks without power.

Hurricane Fiona made Puerto Rico’s resilience stronger. The Island of Enchantment always bounces back from a disaster like this. A brighter future is ahead for the island of Puerto Rico.