The rain began as a soft shower and the wind was merely a faint breeze. It would have appeared to be no more than a drizzle passing by, but it was only a matter of minutes before the light rain drops and gentle airflow turned into a tempestuous downpour that devastated an island.
On the morning of Sept. 20, 2017, exactly one year ago, Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico bringing 30 inches of rain in just one day. Classified as a Category 4 hurricane under the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, Hurricane Maria was the biggest natural disaster to hit Puerto Rico since 1932.
Among the devastated places was Antillean Adventist University (UAA).
“We got strong winds,” said Juan Sanchez, a junior theology major and former UAA student. “We started hearing the trees falling, some ceilings breaking. I actually saw, through the window, tree branches and ceilings from some houses just flying around.”
Sanchez is one of the eight students at Southern Adventist University who experienced this hurricane and one of the four who just enrolled this semester. His brother, Luis Sanchez, also a junior theology major, was also there with him.
“You feel small, ” Luis said. “You hear the wind. You see trees coming out and roofs coming out and realize that things are difficult. Because we were inside a building, we felt safe, but you think ‘What about all the people [who] aren’t?’”
On Aug. 29, 2018, officials in Puerto Rico raised the casualties report to 2,975 people. This was 50 times more than than the previous estimate of 64 people, a number that changed due to the lack of utilities and proper healthcare in the following months of the hurricane.
Hurricane Maria also had an estimated cost damage of $90 billion, making it the third costliest weather disaster in the United States. In the aftermath of the hurricane, UAA suffered from landslides and structural damage to the buildings. They also had no running water or electrical power.
“My birthday was actually two days after the hurricane, and it was a horrible experience,” Daly Montenegro, a new junior business administration major, said. “I remember that day the only thing I asked for was for God to send a lot of rain so that we could take a shower outside.”
It took three weeks before the university had access to water again. One of the university’s projects was to build a well that would supply the daily water requirements. This project alone costed $50,000.
On Oct. 9, 2017, three weeks after the hurricane, UAA resumed classes. Operating costs of the school increased to $9,750 weekly due to climate complications and unforeseeable challenges. UAA still had no electricity at this point.
“We were the only university that started classes again,” Montenegro said. “Basically, we were [there] on faith. There were people that didn’t have anything at their house, and they would still come to school, you know? It was God who gave us the strength and patience to survive those moments.”
Image credit: Luis Sanchez