Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 30 January 2018

Many Puerto Ricans adrift in U.S. hotels after Hurricane Maria

By CLAUDIA TORRENS Rodriguez, a 35-year-old hotel assistance from the go after FEMA stops paying Brooklyn shelter. A Puerto
Associated Press from the southern Puerto agency in 42 states be- for their rooms. Rican activist helped them
NEW YORK (AP) — After Rico town of Yauco who cause their homes in Puerto “There are people with enter the hotel.
they lost their home in has been staying at a hotel Rico are too damaged to five dollars in their pock- “My kids were in a Manhat-
Puerto Rico to flooding dur-
ing Hurricane Maria, Eng-
hie Melendez fled with her
family to the U.S. mainland
with three suitcases and
the hope it wouldn’t take
long to rebuild their lives.
It hasn’t worked out that
way.
More than four months
later, the family of five is
squeezed into two rooms
in a hotel in Brooklyn. While
her husband looks for work,
they are stuck in limbo, eat-
ing off paper plates and
stepping over clothes in
cramped quarters as they
try to get settled in an unfa-
miliar city.
“After the hurricane hit we
told the kids that every day
was going to be an adven-
ture, but not like this,” said
the 43-year-old Melendez.
“This is turning out to be re-
ally hard.”
Around the U.S., many
Puerto Ricans are similarly
adrift in hotels because
of the Sept. 20 hurricane.
The move north spared In this Jan. 9, 2018 photo, Enghie Melendez sits with her daughters Lidia, left, Alondra, and husband Fernando Moyet in their hotel
them from the misery of the kitchen in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
storm’s aftermath on the is- Associated Press
land. But the transition has
often proved to be difficult, in Queens with her elderly occupy. The agency ex- ets,” she said. “They can’t tan school. We would wake
disruptive and expensive as mother and husband while tended the expiration for buy detergent, deodorant, up before 5 a.m. at the
people try to find housing, he looks for work. “If we the program from Jan. 13 medicine.” In Kissimmee, shelter to take them there.
jobs, schools and even fur- don’t get an extension we to March 20 at the request in central Florida, Desiree Now they are in a Brooklyn
niture and clothes to start will have nowhere to live.” of the island’s governor, Torres feels nervous. She school,” she said. “Where
fresh on the mainland. Maria destroyed between but all cases are reviewed has spent more than two will they be tomorrow?”
Melendez and her family 70,000 and 75,000 homes for eligibility every 30 days months in a hotel with her For now, they survive on
shuffled between staying and damaged an addi- and the payments could three children. She says she a $1,700 monthly disabil-
with relatives to a home- tional 300,000, said Leticia end for some people soon- can’t find a job and several ity payment that Melendez
less shelter to a small hotel Jover, a spokeswoman er. It’s impossible to know local shelters have told her receives along with about
in the Williamsburg section for Puerto Rico’s Housing how many are in tempo- there is no space for her $300 a month in food
of Brooklyn, forcing her to Department. The effects rary housing without any and her children. stamps.
change schools for her of the storm included the aid or staying with families. “I can’t sleep at night,” said Her 16-year-old daugh-
three daughters in the mid- widespread loss of power, Leslie Rivera, from the cen- the 30-year-old Torres, who ter, Enghiemar, does her
dle of the semester. which is still not restored in tral town of Caguas, has lost her home in Las Piedras, homework on the floor of
“The instability is terrible,” some places. Many busi- been shuffling among ho- a southeastern town near the hotel room and tries to
she said as her husband, nesses closed. The result tels in Tampa, Florida, since where the eye of the storm keep in touch with friends
who worked as a cook at has been an exodus to the December with her three first crossed the island. “I’m back home by text.
an Army base near San mainland. kids, ages 13, 10 and 2. She worried about my kids.” “I always wanted to come
Juan, used a glass bottle The Center for Puerto Ri- was approved for subsi- After the hurricane, Melen- and live here,” she said.
to mash plantains to make can Studies at Hunter Col- dized housing and expects dez and her family were “But not like this.”q
a traditional Puerto Rican lege estimated in an Oc- to be settled soon but it has forced to sleep for more
dish. Adding to the worries tober study that between been difficult. than three weeks in their
for large numbers of Puerto 114,000 and 213,000 Puerto “I feel like I am on the streets garage because of flood-
Ricans is that hotel reim- Ricans would move to the because I have no clothes. ing and sewage that en-
bursements from the Fed- U.S. mainland over the next I have nothing for my kids,” tered the home. They left
eral Emergency Manage- 12 months. Most were ex- the 35-year-old said with their four dogs with a friend
ment Agency have started pected to settle in Florida, tears in her eyes. and managed to get on
to run out and many say followed by Pennsylvania, Marytza Sanz, president of a humanitarian flight. They
they can’t afford tempo- Texas and New York. Latino Leadership Orlando, spent 10 days at Melen-
rary housing without assis- FEMA says there are nearly which has been helping dis- dez’s father-in-law’s Man-
tance. 4,000 families, more than placed families, said many hattan apartment and
“It’s stressful,” said Yalitza 10,000 people, receiving don’t know where they will a month and a half in a