If you read my last blog, I had written about Hurricane Irma on September 19, which had hit exactly two weeks before Maria. About 12 days later, the buildup of Maria was coming towards the Caribbean Islands, hitting up some of the smaller islands again, before making a direct pass towards Puerto Rico.

 

 

On September 17, two days prior to its expected arrival, the entire island was getting ready for the hurricane once again. Although this time around, it was a more serious hurricane which was going to cross the island in the middle. Thus, there were already huge lines at the supermarkets and everyone was buying food and necessities to last a good week. Almost everyone on the island that had hurricane shutters were pulling them out and commercial stores had two inch thick plywood all over the window area.

 

 

Until September 19, I had been staying at my girlfriend’s apartment in Isla Verde after Irma, but it was time again for us to take refuge. This time, we got in touch with Marimerce and Jorge, friends of Maria Del Mar. Marimerce’s parents were leaving San Juan for Europe and their apartment on a high rise in Condado was available to accommodate us. We thus took shelter with them and have to thank them for their kind hospitality.

 

 

On the morning of September 20 at around four in the morning, Maria hit Puerto Rico. We went to bed that night around 11pm, but most of us were woken up by the strong wind, breaking of glasses, and the building shaking. I was not sure if the building was actually shaking, since it was a hurricane, but I confirmed it was shaking like an earthquake. It was actually pretty scary since I have felt numerous magnitude five plus earthquakes while living in Tokyo, but this shaking was caused by a hurricane. I had done some research on what to do during a hurricane and thought it would be best to go to the first floor of the building, since we were on the eighth. Marimerce told us once again that the building was 10 years old only, the windows can resist 150+ miles winds and the place was built like a bunker so we did not have to worry. I took a gaze outside from the windows and it was scary. The wind was blowing so hard that some of the palm trees had already broke and the outdoor furniture from the building next door was breaking and falling off the building. It looked like a ghost city outside, dark, gloomy, with strong rain and wind gushing everywhere. A few hours later, the internet (that means no Netflix either!) stopped working, but we still had electricity since the building had a big generator for the seven families living there.

 

 

It was hard to sleep, so the four of us were in the living room talking, while the two puppies were afraid of the loud noise outside. At some point, we started seeing water dripping from the second floor and had to move some of the furniture and paintings on the wall. As we followed the source of the dripping, we noticed that the entire 2^nd floor TV room was full of water and the water was leaking from the stairs. The 2^nd floor TV room had around an inch of water already and we had to do some damage control. We put towels and sheets by the door to minimize the dripping and placed bucket stations to catch the water.

 

 

We started shoveling water from the TV room and dumped them into the bathroom. I believe we dumped around 500 gallons in total, working non-stop for about three hours. Jorge came up with a brilliant idea to set up a hose from the TV room to the bathroom below and we were able to minimize the water slowly.

 

 

When the wind died down, we realized that the outdoor lounge glass had shattered all over the terrace and covered the water pipes, hence the water was trapped and coming into the TV room. Despite strong wings, Jorge and I went outside to unclog the pipes and the water started receding down. It was a matter of eight seconds or so and the wind was really strong. We were holding onto the door as we moved the glass. This prevented the water from coming into the TV room and we were able to make it dry, mop and clean the mess that it had made. The main carpet was completely soaked in water and it took around three days to dry. The smell was foul!

 

 

While we were cleaning the apartment, we followed the news via our mobile phone. The cellular network was still working and we had data coverage. About 10 hours later, the eye of the hurricane had gone through the center of the island and it was slowly exiting towards the northwest part. It was still raining heavily and the winds were very strong. We were unable to go outside that entire day and stayed in. The generator in the building was working, so we had electricity, water and we were able to cook.

 

 

Thursday September 21, we woke up early and started sweeping all the damage in the terrace. All four ceiling glass broke during the hurricane and we carried around 10 full buckets of glass to the ground floor waste bin. The glass had flown all around the apartment complex and we had to sweep and clean the entrance of the building for another two hours or so.

 

 

I had not done manual labor for a long time, but cleaning was not an easy task. Jorge and I managed to clean most of the glasses, sand, and broken branches/trees around the apartment complex.

 

 

That afternoon, we headed to Marimerce and Jorge’s apartment in Condado to check the status of their place. Their neighbor Brian had informed us that there was no electricity and his apartment was a mess during the hurricane. We got to Marimerce’s place and it took a good five hours to get rid of all the water from the apartment (on the third floor) and make it look like normal. It was a lot of work, but a good workout as well. We then helped out with the cleaning of the apartment common area, which was a mess with broken glass, trees, twigs, and you name it. I was moved seeing this older 60+ lady shoveling garbage into the side street. I quickly ran down and helped with the complex cleanup for a good two hours and the complex looked much better. 

 

 

During and after the hurricane, we still ate very well every day. We had stocked up on food supplies up to a month, where we cooked every meal and enjoyed at least a bottle of wine at dinner. I think we had at least one glass of alcohol for ten days straight.

 

 

Around Saturday September 23, we got news from family members and friends that they were alright within San Juan and other parts of the island. The governor of Puerto Rico declared dry law (no alcohol sold anywhere except hotels) and there was a curfew from 6pm until 6am every day. More than 95% of the island had no electricity, some parts had no water at all. Even in the Condado area where we stayed, there were trees and electric wires all over the streets. Some areas in Isla Verde were covered entirely in water and it took days for the water to recede. The main highway from Condado towards the airport was closed and the San Juan Airport was closed for a few days and there were no commercial flights. I was supposed to leave on Sunday September 24 for Paris, but my Air Europa flight to Madrid was cancelled and moved to Thursday September 28. Thus, I stayed in San Juan with Jorge, Marimerce and my girlfriend Maria Del Mar.

I will continue writing about the next few days until my departure from San Juan.