As we watch the horrors unfold in Puerto Rico, many North Texans are reminded of what they endured just five years ago, nearly to the date, when Hurricane Maria made landfall on the Island.
Christian Flores Rivera knows what people are faced with in Puerto Rico right now. He said there will be several exhausting days and nights ahead. He was there in 2017 when Hurricane Maria slammed into the island.
“I built my life there, and from one moment to another I just lost everything,” he said. “There was no work. There was no home. I lost my home.”
He’s one of the more than 200,000 people who left Puerto Rico after Maria. Rivera has since made Dallas his home- not an easy transition for a man who relocated alone and still feels the pain of loss.
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As he keeps an eye on the impact of Hurricane Fiona, the concern for his family back home is at the forefront.
“In Puerto Rico, what you own, you own by your own effort,” said Flores Rivera. “And to see the things that you gain with your own effort get lost just like that, just vanishing, it’s hard.”
Even with catastrophic flooding and power outages, Rivera said his family is hesitant to leave, and he understands why.
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“Puerto Ricans feel pride for their own land, their own island. I still have that pride. It was a hard decision to just move forward,” he said.
Should they make the decision to join him here, Rivera said he’ll be ready.
“My brother has been here and he’s considering moving here,” said Rivera.
As rescue and resource efforts mobilize, President Joe Biden on Sunday approved an emergency declaration, authorizing FEMA to arrange disaster relief efforts.
