The Aftermath of Maria - Day 4
It’s Sunday, September 24th. We have running water. There’s no power and no cell signal. The generator in B is running low on diesel, so we get one more charge on our devices today and maybe one tomorrow. The fuel truck was scheduled to arrive tomorrow, but we’ve heard that they don’t have access to any diesel. The stairs are killer. It’s so hot and humid and with no breeze there’s no relief. Every time we have to go down to talk with someone we dread coming back up those four flights of stairs. We even moved our couch to the balcony to try and find some kind of breeze. Not so much.
Today we did laundry in the sink and tub. Jason made clotheslines out of painters tape in our guest bathroom. We washed enough clothes to last us until the airport opens next weekend. We made spaghetti with canned tomato puree and canned mushrooms for lunch on the propane stove. We’ve drunk all the water from our 24 solo cups in the freezer, so we refilled them with tap water just in case our water goes away. We can always boil the water on our propane stove and then run it through our Brita filter if we run out of bottled drinking water.
The AM radio is still our only source of info. I met with David on the stairs and he filled me in on the latest news. The governor told everyone to go back to work if possible. San Juan has water, and ten flights left out of the San Juan airport today. The dam at Guajataca might hold. The gasoline supply should be back by Thursday on our side of the island and the lines should go away.
For dinner Maria cooked rice and beans for everyone in the condo in B building while the generator was running. I ate avocado. We plugged in a fan while we all sat on the patio to eat and it was amazing. Chris stopped by and shared with us that she is torn as to whether or not to leave. She just moved to Isabela and has no place to go back to in St. Louis. I feel for her. I’m torn, too. I want to get out of here but I’m sad to leave. Nick shared that he has been journaling his hurricane Maria experience as I have. He jokes that he wants to sell his story to the highest bidder.
Luis left early this morning to get gas since both of his cars were on empty. He knows someone in the fuel business and went to get a hook up. He returned just after the 7pm curfew. It took him 14 hours to get gas today! Luis plans to “borrow” untainted diesel from the tank on building C generator tomorrow so we can continue to run the generator at building B.
As a group, we are all happy we survived the storm unharmed and we still have our homes. We just take one day at a time and focus on our access to power and water. We know there’s some food up the hill at the grocery store if we run low. Everyone is sharing concerns and news and information and food with each other. The goal is survival. And we are finding a way.