Thread by @Vaquero2XL

1/x Yesterday, we spent the day in Loíza, the hub of African culture and Afro-boricuas in PR. The municipality was greatly affected by the flooding caused by Hurricane Fiona. While the water has gone down quite a bit, the people are still suffering.

2/x The first place I visited was the Batey de los Hermanos Ayala, a historic cultural center. That bright yellow building is a shop where they sell handmade drums and other instruments. Thankfully, it was relatively unaffected by the rain.

3/x But other parts of their property were not so lucky. The workshop in the back, where they repair bikes and instruments and keep their tools, was drenched in rain. The wooden panels lining the floor were cracking from the water and Sixto Ayala, who helps manage the family…

4/x shop, says they’ll have to replace them. The zinc roof and the pylons holding them also need to replaced.

He poured all his money into fixing parts of the property when he came from Massachusetts a few years ago. “I just can’t go on with this because I don’t have the…

5/x money anymore,” he says.

The front of the workshop is dotted with posters, postcards, and other pieces of Loíza and bomba culture. A few instruments were waterlogged from the storm and he set them out to dry in the front, hoping they’re not completely ruined.

6/x Afterwards, he took me through the main house to show me damages they STILL HAVE from Hurricane María, five years ago. The back of their house still bears the blue tarps handed out then, meaning it was scheduled to be replaced. It has since collapsed

7/x The roof is being held up by reclaimed wood from an old bed. Behind the house, there was a small cement bathroom that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Pieces of rubble still litter the back of the property. Sixto hopes that they can be cleaned up eventually.

8/x The main house, where legendary bomba dancer Raquel Ayala has lived all her life, is still liveable but is slowly falling apart from years of un-repaired hurricane damages. They don’t have the resources to fix any of it. Her father built most of the house entirely by hand.

9/x For years, the Batey has served as a hub for the community to gather and share. “The party here is eternal,” one neighbor told me as he sat next to Raquel.

Sixto tells me “half the world” has come to check damages “but they never returned” since Hurricane Maria.

10/x Sixto, who spent 40 years in Massachusetts before coming to PR, tells me he thinks more and more about returning after suffering natural disasters and poor living conditions on the archipelago.

Thankfully, their water and electric has returned.

11/x Afterwards, we went to Villa Cristiana where there’s still gigantic puddles near the mangroves in the back of the neighborhood.

12/x Hurricane Fiona also left hundreds of dead fish littering the streets of Loíza, worrying residents about possible diseases. We were told that municipal government came to pick up dead fish yesterday. Regardless, there’s still a couple in the roads.

google.com/amp/s/www.tele…

13/x Loíza was not included in the original Expedited Major Disaster Declaration issued by Pres. Biden at Gov. Pierluisi’s request. It was the only one in the northeast that was not included even though it got more than 10 inches of rain, which Pierluisi claimed was FEMA’s…

https://twitter.com/Vaquero2XL/status/1572799369430323200

14/x “yardstick” for whether to include certain municipalities or not. Loíza was included in the second addendum, though, which added four other municipalities as well. This allows residents to get $700 in individual assistance.

https://twitter.com/NWSSanJuan/status/1572184040488288263

15/x “I don’t understand the reasons for us not being included,” says Migdaliz Ayala, while her neighbors move a few ruined pieces of furniture out of the second floor. Her area suffered lots of losses because of the hurricane. She says the municipal govt has come to clean…

16/x around the area. State govt only came “after the water receded.”

There was a group of church volunteers riding around in pick-ups handing out water and other resources to community neighbors affected by Maria.

17/x The public health dept has been riding around giving supplies as well, including tabs to deal with leptospirosis, a disease that often occurs after heavy downpours.

There’s a possibility of “significant dengue outbreak” in this community and most of PR if the puddles are…

18/x not dealt with, Dr. Grayson Brown w/ the Vector Control Unit tells me.

They’ve visited “half a dozen places” checking for mosquitos that carry dengue.

“It’s hard to stop an outbreak once it starts,” he continues. So, they’re plan is to spray a chemical that only…

19/x kills mosquitos in puddles across PR 4 times over 2 months to mitigate any possible outbreaks before they start. If an outbreak were to start, these communities would be dealing with them for ~2 years. The Vector Control Unit is currently requesting FEMA for more funding…

20/x buy more of the spray they need.

Later, we went to Miñi Miñi, where there’s still lots of stuck water that could breed diseases.

“This is going to take months to get dry,” neighbor Milisa Rivera Lacen tells me. This is the 4th flood they’ve seen while living here.

21/x They tell me that a municipal truck came to pump water out but a lot still remains.

“We feel as if [Loíza] isn’t part of PR. As if we weren’t on PR’s map,” she told me, referring to the municipality not being included in the original major disaster declaration.

22/x “We feel marginalized,” Milagros Lacen, Milisa’s mother, tells me.

They both fear the possibility of disease spreading because of the flooding.

Their family has a farm opposite their house, which remains completely flooded. Some of the farm’s pigs were killed by the…

23/x flooding but they haven’t been able to get them out because of the flooding, which could become another vector for diseases.

They’re both very thankful for the help they’ve received from their community, including Taller Salud which has helped a lot, they tell me.

24/x They also pointed out the municipal govt as a great help. The current administration was “the first to come check” on them. Previous administrations “didn’t even come to the corner” during other natural disasters.

Thankfully the water and electric has come back.

25/x The mayor Julia Nazario claims that the massive flooding was caused by the Carraízo resevoir gates being opened not because of the rain from Hurricane Fiona. Multiple residents told me something similar.

https://twitter.com/Metro_PR/status/1573037291257331715

26/x Loíza was hut hard by Hurricane Fiona and will continue suffer from the knock-on effects in the coming months as they slowly try to rebuild. But, from the destruction that was still there from Hurricane Maria when they were hit by Fiona, it’s clear that they have been…

27/end left behind, like many other parts of PR, when it comes to reconstruction efforts by the state and federal government. Many fear that these overlapping crises will eventually destroy their homes and communities if they remain unaddressed.