Some Puerto Ricans in Rochester traumatized by the deja vu of Hurricane Fiona

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Angela Pedraza Reyes lives in Rochester but goes home to the island during winter months. “Our home is in Villalba. But we’re right in the border of Coamo.”

Those areas are being hit hard by Fiona. Pedraza Reyes and her family survived hurricane Maria in 2017. “For Maria we were very lucky we were both there, and we didn’t get major damage.”

Angela says Fiona is worse. Power was wiped out across Puerto Rico after the storm made landfall Sunday, causing “catastrophic” flooding and landslides.

“This has brought a lot a lot of rain, causing a lot of landslides and stuff, although that happened for Maria, it wasn’t as bad as it is now.”

Pedraza Reyes home is up on a mountain where massive landslides are happening, and she’s nervous about what kind of damage she’ll go home to.

She says after Maria, it took over 6 months just to get electricity back. That storm also ruined the exterior of her all white home. She said her family spent days bleaching it back to its original state.

“I know we’re going have a mess when we get back,” she said.

Normally she would give her neighbors a buzz to check on the house. But, she can’t contact anyone. “I tried calling my next door neighbor and even the cell phones aren’t working.”

In the meantime, Angela says all she can do is pray. “I pray that everyone is safe, and that we get power back. God bless Puerto Rico.”

Angela says she’ll keep us updated when she lands in Puerto Pico in the next few weeks. She says she’ll be able to give us a look at how the island is doing, as it recovers from Fiona.