People fleeing devastation in Puerto Rico arrive in Massachusetts
BOSTON - Travelers arriving to Logan Airport Tuesday night, carried luggage in their hands and heartbreaking images in their minds - of the Puerto Rico they left behind.
"That was awful, honestly," one man said, of the last few days.
Post-pandemic, and parts still recovering from "Maria," "Fiona" feels frighteningly similar to that deadly hurricane five years ago. In some regions, the water damage right now is as bad or even worse. Another traveler, arriving in Boston with her elderly mother, said she feared they'd drown as the floodwaters continued to rise.
"We stayed in one room in a little corner that was safe, for a whole night no light. The place was so dark," Yolanda Rivera recalled.
Safe in Boston, these travelers are now torn between feelings of relief and regret. The home they return to, won't be the same.
"We wanted to come. We didn't want to stay there. But that's really sad; that's the place you were born," she added.
As relief agencies and essential supplies make their way to the sites suffering most, Puerto Ricans pray that support never ceases.
"I trust in my people, and I trust in God, and the help of the United States. The situation is critical right now," Andy Roldan said.