Anxious for a phone call and worried about the unknown, Puerto Rican UF students are still waiting to hear from their families affected by Hurricane Maria.
The eye of Hurricane Maria came near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, at about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds at 155 mph, according to the Weather Channel. One hundred percent of the island is without power.
Even as the members of UF’s Unión de Estudiantes Puertorriqueños Activos worry about their own families, they have begun to raise money and donations to help their homeland.
“We can see from the little information that we have that it hit Puerto Rico pretty hard,” Gabriel Zayas said. “Puerto Rico, even before the hurricane, wasn’t the best place to live, but now with the hurricane, it destroyed Puerto Rico.”
Zayas, a 20-year-old UF animal sciences junior, was raised in Puerto Rico and moved to the U.S. mainland three years ago. All of his immediate family is still on the island.
As the Hurricane crept closer, Zayas’ family wasn’t worried. As the trees blew and the rain poured down at 3 a.m., they got nervous. Zayas’ brother sent him a text.
“It’s actually really bad right now, like it’s raining really hard and there’s a lot of wind,” his brother wrote.
Due to the power loss, Zayas has still not heard from his family.
Stephanie Beltran, a UF accounting freshman, wasn’t able to give her mom a call on her mom’s birthday Wednesday when the hurricane hit.
“I couldn’t sleep that night, and I was worried like all day (Wednesday) and calling everyone and trying to find out what happened and nobody answered,” the 17-year-old said.
Her dad, who also lives in Puerto Rico, still didn’t have power from Hurricane Irma.
Beltran’s aunt was able to get in touch with the family right as the storm moved through the town. She said the garage door was broken down, and there was flooding in her house. The eye of Hurricane Maria passed right over Beltran’s hometown, Los Prados.
“There’s massive destruction everywhere near my house,” Beltran said.
Angel Santiago, a UF applied physiology and kinesiology junior, has made helping Puerto Rico one of his priorities as president of UF’s Unión de Estudiantes Puertorriqueños Activos.
Yesterday he drove a truck full of supplies from the Reitz Union to a shipping center in Jacksonville. From there, the supplies were sent to Puerto Rico. The truck was filled with about 10 generators and clothing donations. Santiago has begun plans to raise money, with the club deciding on an organization at their next meeting.
“There’s about 50,000 students here at the University of Florida, just one person that is willing to help is making a difference,” the 20-year-old said.
For 18-year-old Erika Domenech, getting together to help is the spirit of the Puerto Rican people.
“The sense of unity that arises with these kinds of events, I think I find it really interesting, and I think it kind of says something about Puerto Rican culture,” the UF marketing freshman said.
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From left: Rescue team members Candida Lozada, Stephanie Rivera, Mary Rodriguez and Zuly Ruiz embrace as they wait to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday.
