CAYEY, Puerto Rico — It’s been more than 2 months since Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island of Puerto Rico and for some areas the basic necessities of food, water and electricity are difficult to find.
In the first part of our series “Island in Crisis” PIX11’s Lisa Mateo takes a look into the issue of finding clean water to drink.
Lisa traveled with the American Red Cross to the central mountain town of Cayey to distribute water filters and discover how residents are coping. Many islanders who don’t have transportation and limited funds (poverty is up 8%) have resorted to catching rain water in buckets, while others, the rivers. Although 93 percent of the island has access to water, it remains under a boil advisory, but without operational stovetops, boiling water is not an option.
The U.S. Virgin Islands are also struggling as power remains out for more than 60% of the territory. On St. Croix, the largest of the islands, only about a fourth of residents have electricity. Many homes still have no roofs and cell networks are spotty.
