This September, Hurricane Maria, a category four hurricane, devastated Puerto Rico. It was the strongest hurricane that has hit the island in 80 years, even Niles North families have been affected by the storm.

Here are the student’s telling stories of their family. “After two months the power lines have been restored, but my family still doesn’t have wifi so they can only get reception in high elevation. My cousin completely lost their house, car, and all their possessions in the hurricane and had to move to New York. My grandma is still in Puerto Rico and it is very hard to contact her.” Jadon Castro, a Niles North senior, said.

“Hearing about my family in a different part of the country is really heartbreaking because there is not much I can do. I have two cousins and my grandpa and two aunts who live in the city. They do not have fresh food or fresh water. I tried to send a package to my family, but the package got lost. Now they are doing much better, they have electricity and water. I am more concerned about my family that lives in the mountains. The last I heard from them as they were running low on batteries and did not have clean water. I am still waiting to connect with them, but as of right now everything is up in the air.”  Adriana Oh, Niles North senior, said.

Extensive disaster relief efforts are still coming into the island. Puerto Rico continues to be more in debt leaving the people in a healthcare crisis.

55 people have died due to the hurricane. The island’s power grid was destroyed and four weeks after the storm only 20 percent of the Puerto Rico’s power was restored. Hundreds of buildings were in knocked out in the wreckage. The entire road system has to be completely rebuilt.