OPINION: After Hurricane Maria, a Catch-22 for Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria, which made landfall on Sept. 20, 2017, devastated Puerto Rico, and has created a Catch-22. Puerto Ricans are fleeing the island in the thousands, bound mainly for Florida, New York and Illinois where family and friends will embrace them. For departing Puerto Ricans, this is a bittersweet time. Leaving their beloved island is hard but born of necessity.
For many, everything was lost — about 500,000 houses, cars and all earthly possessions — a “catastrophic event,” rarer than a disaster, according to University of Delaware sociology professor Tricia Wachtendorf, a catastrophe relief expert.
The Cuban Research Institute director at Florida International University, Jorge Duany, called Puerto Ricans’ movement to the mainland “a stampede.” Duany envisions that the Puerto Rican exodus to Florida will be so extensive that it could surpass the number of New Orleans evacuees who fled to Houston in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Tens of thousands came to Houston, and remained long after New Orleans had been rebuilt. “I think everyone is going to leave — anyone who can buy a one-way ticket,” said Duany.