Hurricane Fiona pelted all of Puerto Rico with heavy rain – more than 30 inches in some areas in the south and the central mountain region – and caused flooding that was more widespread than the historic 2017 storm. At least two deaths have so far been attributed to Fiona. Puerto Rico’s government, after initially saying only 64 people died as a result of Maria, later placed the death toll at nearly 3,000 – making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in US history. It was the first hurricane to touch down here since September 20, 2017, when Maria left thousands dead and triggered a blackout that lasted months for many of the island’s more than 3 million residents. Elijah Nouvelage for CNNįlooding even more widespread than Hurricane Mariaįiona made landfall in southwestern Puerto Rico last Sunday afternoon. The boy to her right uses her washing machine valves to collect fresh water in Guayama. Am I going to get help?”Ĭarmen Baez becomes emotional while standing in front of where her home used to be. “I’m debating what to do,” said Baez, who has previously lived in New York and Connecticut.

It has left many Puerto Ricans marveling anew at the kindness of neighbors, revisiting the age-old debate about leaving the US territory for the mainland and questioning their confidence in the island’s political leadership. That she could help others provided some comfort days after Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico as a Category 1 storm on Sunday, dropping record rainfall, unleashing landslides and mudslides, flooding neighborhoods and leaving most of the island without power or water.įiona arrived almost exactly five years after Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, delivered a blow from which the island has never fully recovered. “We let them know so they can come and get water.” “People are coming from different places,” said Baez, 50, standing under a sweltering sun. A friend hid her house keys after Baez evacuated to her mother’s home on higher ground, she said, preventing her from returning to fetch the cats during the storm. The valves, sprouting like flowers from the ground, were all that was left of her small house near the edge of the Guamaní River, which overflowed and swallowed her yellow, cabin-like home, other houses on the block, her stepfather’s vintage Toyota and four of her eight beloved cats.

At the end of Valencia Street in this southeastern coastal town, Carmen Baez was proud that neighbors were using her washing machine valves to collect fresh water.

Puerto rico hurricane aftermath 2017