Displaced Hurricane Maria Survivors Find New Home In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's Office of Emergency Management released figures, Tuesday, showing the city has welcomed nearly 1,300 survivors of Hurricane Maria since it opened it Disaster Assistance Center, October 11.
O.E.M. says that since Philadelphia is not a FEMA-designated site, the people that came here self-evacuated and "chose" the city.
For Jean Pimentel, it was an easy choice. He was raised here. He lived the last eleven years in Puerto Rico and held on when the Hurricane hit, but..
"We found out my wife was pregnant and there were no hospitals for her to go to," he said.
Pimentel is staying with his sister and looking for a job, a permanent one.
"I lost everything over there in Puerto Rico so I just came to Philadelphia to start a new life with my family," he said.
Pimentel has sought help from the Assistance Center but councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez thinks many of those who fled didn't.
"I suspect it's three times the number that have come through the center," she said.
Sanchez says Pennsylvania is expected to get the second-highest number of hurricane emigres, after Florida.