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North Texas Families Desperate to Fly Puerto Rican Family Members to Safety

Family, including 107-year-old patriarch, expected to arrive in DFW Wednesday night

"Don't forget about us."

That is the plea coming from Puerto Rico as the humanitarian crisis grows worse by the minute.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard have workers on the ground, and emergency relief supplies are being flown in.

Nearly two-thirds of the country is without water, and food is scarce.

Puerto Rican families in North Texas are desperate to fly their loved ones to safety, and on Wednesday one family was finally reunited in North Texas.

Maria Berrios, 72, of Richland Hills, had been waiting days for word on her 107-year-old father, and her brother and sisters who were stranded in Puerto Rico.

"Without water and food, what's going to happen," she asked. "They're going to die. Especially my father."

Her father, Gabriel Lozada, recently underwent hip surgery in their native Puerto Rico, just as Hurricane Maria hit the island.

"It's real bad in Puerto Rico. It's real bad. My sister told me it was like a monster went by," Berrios said.

The storm left a trail of devastation throughout Puerto Rico and knocked out communication for several days.

"No electricity, no water and with my father sick," Berrios said.

Having to watch the devastation from afar is hard enough, but Berrios said she is especially upset at the lack of help and attention Puerto Ricans are receiving.

"I have called, I mean, every phone, and nobody has a response," she said. "[I feel] very sad, very sad, because we are American."

Wednesday night, Berrios' father and sister, Nilsa Lopez, of Chicago, arrived at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport aboard an American Airlines flight.

Berrios and her son were at the airport to meet them.

"Happiness. I feel happy. I don't have the word to describe the feeling," Berrios said.

Still, the situation in Puerto Rico remains dire for many people who remain there.

"It's not good. And seeing him (my father) hungry, not having anything to eat but snacks and junk food, I'd just like to know where is everything going that's being donated. That's what I would like to know," Lopez said.

Barrios' father and sister were supposed to fly to D/FW Airport on Friday, however the flight was canceled due to the hurricane.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines said it typically has 20 flights into D/FW Airport from Puerto Rico daily, but that number is now down to just one or two flights due to the hurricane.

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