Hurricane Maria: My 1 Month Journal

On Tuesday, Sept 19th we did the 30 minute flight home to Puerto Rico from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. 

Ted and I arrived into San Juan at 12:30 pm with several family members and friends with SJU layovers. Immediately after landing we found out that the airport was shutting down at 6 pm in anticipation of Hurricane Maria. Thankfully, our family and friends were able to take off at 5:30 pm, right before the airport closed.

Our assistant picked us up. We grabbed a quick lunch and listened to reports about how severe the storm would be hitting the Island we now called home. (If you are curious about how we made Puerto Rico our home (click here) We headed to the closest supermarket only to discover stores had closed early.

After Ted and I got things in order in our house I turned on the TV and got more and more anxious with every news report. I then turned to our community friends' "What's app" chat and laughed at their jokes and storm predictions-- at 3:35 am the last 2 pre-Maria messages came in-- the first was a radar pic showing that Maria was entering directly through Humacao -- the immediate next message was: "HOLD ON!"

Our home and office, located in Humacao (population 55,000) in the southeast region of Puerto Rico and Yabucoa -- just west of our town, was the entry point of "Huracán Maria". The sound of the roof clay tiles competed with howling winds from 3:35 am until about 6:45 am. At 7 am, I bravely walked out of my bedroom and ran past the staircase windows. I gazed out the kitchen window from a safe distance. As my eyes adjusted to the light and focused on the new landscape, my mind registered that our tropical oasis was gone—decimated. In one instance I experienced a combination of gratitude and sorrow. Our oasis, was now a hill of fallen trees stripped of all greenery.

When things calmed down substantially around 10 am we started the cleanup process-- getting water out of several rooms from both our 1st and 2nd floors. We laughed, joked and took videos. 2 hours later I was shocked to be in the midst of the storm again! I guess in wanting the storm to be over I had forgotten about this phase of the storm--the eye of the storm represented the finale to me and to so many of my neighbors that took to driving around. So we hunkered down again and finally around 3 pm we ventured outside. There are no words to describe the feeling of witnessing first hand the devastation in front of us-- our entire surroundings had been transformed. We drove over countless fallen electrical lines, dodged not only fallen trees but cars as well. We drove in whichever road we could get on regardless of how the traffic previously flowed. When we arrived home we were sucker punched with new challenges. We discovered that our 20 day generator had stopped working. Our house was dark & hot but thankfully our community had its own water plant so we were able to take cool showers. 

Though the severe winds decreased after 3 hours the wind gusts lasted a full 24. That night of September 20th, almost at 11 pm, nearly 8 hours after the terrifying landfall I felt sure the storm had circled back onto Puerto Rico. The lack of TV news combined with ferocious thunder and lightning seemed like confirmation to my already stressed out state of mind. 

The following morning I stood on my bedroom balcony and cried as I took it all in. It was a very short cry because as my husband reminded me we were now in survival mode. Step one: we needed to find a way to let our family and friends know that we were alive—that was the main goal for the day! As we prepared to leave, not even an hour later, the water stopped flowing-- it just stopped! Another blow: hot house, no water, and we didn't have a way to let our family and friends know we were alive. (Later we heard that our water plant failed due to severe damages.) We headed out to a nearby town, Las Piedras to see how Christian, a member of our Spot On Insurance team and his family were doing. When we got close to his home, I was somewhat apprehensive when I saw that the road to his house was inaccessible by vehicle due to dozens of fallen trees. We parked about 1/2 a mile from his house. My mind flashed for a second to a vision of trees crushing his home. We started the trek, climbing numerous fallen trees and then there we appeared in front of Christian and his family! He was in total awe and all he could ask was "how did you get here?" After a short chat and discovering they had a working landline they were using to contact family in the states, I felt a rush of joy. That is until we tried to use the phone and discovered that tractor operators shifting trees and power lines had just cut the landline. Joy: easy come, easy go. We headed out on our journey and main goal of the day-- contacting family and our ILSA team. We heard rumors of a signal about 35 miles north. It took us nearly 2 hours to travel 8 miles and we were forced to turn back home. 

Maria hit at dawn Wednesday, September 20th but we were unable to get a signal until Friday 40 miles away. We contacted family, friends, our PR team manager, Belinda and our ILSA Texas team and asked them to post our situation on Facebook. I was so so happy.

The next few days were spent driving as far as San Juan looking for working ATMS. No electricity, no ATMs, no money.  Lucky for us we had a fully charged Tesla. Any gas station that could dispense gas had mile long lines. When we finally found a working cash machine we had to stand on, of course, a line for hours. Everything had to be paid for in cash: gas, diesel, laborers, food. 

Today marks one month since Hurricane Maria hit the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico. There have been so many challenges to overcome but I absolutely love that friends just drop in during the day or evening. No one can call or text asking for gas, a car ride, water—they are forced to come in person. We have helped so many people during these weeks but so too have so many helped us. 

30 days post Maria and our current reality is this:

? We chat with military personnel in our community shopping plaza.

? We are used to the sound of low flying helicopters.

? I was proud to see New York State police directing traffic.

? Puerto Rico Residents working alongside police clearing roads.

? We excited high-five one another when a text message comes in closer and closer to home.

? Our team regularly jumps into our car and to drive 30 miles to get a bit of internet so that we can upload and download files. 

? Handwritten notes in our mailbox and under our front door. 

Ted and I have running water in our home where our employees and friends were able to come and take showers. The lessons learned are invaluable and today I definitely etched another one into my memory book: when I lamented to our team member Stephanie that she still had no electricity (because her house doesn't have a generator) she responded, "but so many are without homes" and gave me the biggest smile.

On Tuesday we will be broadcasting our Spot On Insurance Podcast: The Psychology of Downed Trees featuring Christopher Boggs, the Executive Director of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”) Virtual University. This podcast comes at a time when our nation and our world is being ravaged by natural disasters: earthquakes, wildfires and back to back hurricanes. Christopher discusses the 5Rs people face during natural disasters: Rough, relief, reality, reaction, recovery. It is in times like these that the spotlight once again shines on our insurance industry, as agents, adjusters and a host of insurance professionals, continue to serve as the point of contact for relief on the road to recovery.

Yesterday morning I got to hear words of wisdom from a motivational speaker on one of our local channels concerning the mental stresses following such a devastating event. He emphasized that as we go through this Hurricane aftermath we need to train ourselves to not focus on "how bad things are" rather we should say "things are different or more difficult now". If we label things "bad" it makes it more difficult to solve the problems in front of us. He pointed out that it is easier to deal with something that is different or better yet a challenge.  We certainly are being challenged here in Puerto Rico. But as we hear repeated on this little island every day. Puerto Rico se levanta: Puerto Rico will Rise.

Thank you for the outpouring of love, prayers and uplifting messages sent our way. The road to recovery is long but everyday things get better and for that I am grateful.