A fair amount has transpired since I had service over a month ago; emails and texts have disappeared into the ether, and going back through the tons of stuff on Facebook is so overwhelming it’s not going to happen – I lost a month. One thing I know is that there is so much love and caring out there that I felt it through the 200 mph (+ or -) winds and really appreciate your vibes. Those who have experienced a rocket attack or shelling barrage know the intensity of sound and the uncertainty of survival that accompanies uncontrollable magnitude of forces unleased upon us at times. To those who have not had such experiences, I hope that you never have to.
Emerging from the devastation of the Cat 5 Hurricane Maria on the morning of Wednesday, September 20th, the universal cry from the Vieques community was “Vivimos!” Homes were destroyed, property was lost, the landscape was reformed, but we all lived through it. The magnitude of the personal crisis and collective chaos was slow to sink in as many walked around almost oblivious to the calamity at hand. Dazed and confused. Where to begin?
The destruction of the landscape was almost uniform. Trees were topped at 20 feet or totally uprooted. Old wooden power poles were snapped like toothpicks while steel poles were bent and leaning over. Even some of the 65’ foot concrete super-poles were cut off at grade level trimmed by a giant lawnmower. Wires were everywhere. Telephone cables – precarious on a normal day – were coursing everywhere, but now a huge variety of wires and steel cables had joined the spaghetti bowels served throughout the debris strewn island roads.
The tremendous force of winds from the eye and gusts in the 200mph range were partially eclipsed by the supernatural, twisting, knockout punches from random tornadoes spawned from within Maria’s cloak. Concrete houses had their doors and windows blown in (and out) with many components tossed hither and yon. Some wooden structures were vacuumed up and probably deposited back in Kansas somewhere.
That’s it for now. I will post much more over the next week or two. I have many pictures of different barrios and familiar haunts, but I’m aware that many such pictures have already been posted, so I’m considering posting options for them.
Thanks to all for your love and support. You would be proud of the way the people of the community have been responding and helping one another as well as the pouring out of support from those who love the island. This did not break us: we’re coming back much stronger!