The Aftermath of Maria - Day 2
On Friday, September 22nd, we had no power, no generator, no cell signal, and no internet. We had running water, but we didn't know if it was safe to drink. We used bottled water for drinking, cooking, and brushing teeth just in case. The breeze was still non-existent. It was hot and humid. We woke up Friday morning and discovered water seeping through the ceiling. The condo above ours was full of water, and our complex does not keep spare keys for emergencies. No telling how long it would take for someone to show up to clean it out, so there was nothing we could do.
Security was back; one guard managed to make it back down the hill and around the downed poles to get to work. Maria made coffee, eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns on a grill downstairs for breakfast. She showed up at our door with a plate for Jason (she knew I couldn’t eat any of that or of course she would have fed me, too). She even brought cold orange juice in a glass with ice! Hot food and a cold beverage were a huge deal. Maria is the best!
Jason was eager to jump in the car and drive to his job at DXC in the hopes that they would have working phones or internet access, but Nick and Pierre had left earlier to drive to Honeywell for the same reason. I suggested we wait until they returned to hear how the roads were and if it was worth the gas to drive into town. I’m glad we waited. Nick and Pierre returned and reported that Honeywell had no phone or internet, but Nick did get access to a satellite phone to call his wife. That was an important piece of information. We could potentially have Nick book a flight for us with the satellite phone when he went back next week. They weren’t expecting any connectivity until the following Monday, maybe. Pierre said Calle 2 (the main road through Isabela into Aguadilla) was a mess. Every power pole along the road was down. All of them. Nick and Pierre witnessed huge long lines at gas stations. They said grocery stores were open and some of the bakeries were open, but serving limited items. Everything was cash only. We decided there was no reason to drive anywhere today. Instead we washed clothes in the sink and tub. Holy crap did we miss our washing machine!
I ran into David in the stairwell and he had been listening to AM radio. He speaks Spanish and English, so he shared that the governor stated everyone should stay home and off the roads, and that there was no internet connectivity anywhere on the island. A curfew had been issued for the entire island from 6pm to 6am. The governor said emergency rooms were jammed, and if people left their homes and got hurt it would just make a bad situation even worse. The governor also mentioned that there was no shortage of gas or diesel on the island. It would just take some time to be distributed. David also spoke to a woman in A3 who had driven in from San Juan to check on her condo, and she had a cell signal on a small stretch of highway in Bayamon. This was huge news. This meant the roads were clear enough to travel from one side of the island to the other, and a cell signal was better than gold.
Maria and Luis ventured out and drove to the airport in Aguadilla. Maria went in and spoke to an employee. The building was flooded and the airport was closed. They would reopen next Thursday or Friday. She saw planes destroyed in hangars. This is the airport we hoped to fly out of, so this was also important news.
The HOA president and manager arrived and walked the property assessing damage. They said a maintenance crew would arrive tomorrow to begin clean up. Maria let us in to the condo over in B so we could charge devices. Jason took our devices, back up batteries, and our fancy power strip over and had a genius plan. He plugged in the back up power supply from our computer to let it charge. Maybe it would run our fan? It was worth a shot.
Our circle started at 1pm, and Maria and Frank cooked pork chops, rice and beans, and French fries for everyone. Frank had visited a friend in Aguadilla to help clean up his property and came back with avocados and coconuts from all the downed trees which he shared with the group. Faret and Frank taught Pierre how to cut open a fresh coconut with a machete. He got lots of practice! Today was the day the bees arrived. There were bees EVERYWHERE. Now we had to battle ants AND bees while sitting down in the parking lot. Maria and Luis shared that they were driving to San Juan the next morning to check on Luis’ family there. This gave me an idea.
I went upstairs and wrote down my Dad’s phone number along with a short message on my little green paper pad. It simply said, “Jason and Steph and Lucy are fine. Please share on social media.” I asked Maria if she would call when she passed through Bayamon tomorrow, since we knew a cell signal was there. She agreed. Later that afternoon I shared this plan in the circle and that little green piece of paper was passed around so everyone could add a number. Hopefully we could all tell our families that we were okay!
At around 8:30pm, we took Lucy downstairs to go outside. It was pitch black out. A flashlight approached in the distance. It was a little freaky! Turns out it was just our security guard checking to see who we were and what we were doing. We went back upstairs, climbed in bed, watched Bob’s Burgers on the iPad, and TURNED ON OUR FAN. The back up power supply was able to run our fan for 40 MINUTES. Jason is a freaking genius.