A man fishes off the edge of the pier in Punta Santiago. A year ago Hurricane Maria made landfall as a catagory 4 storm. The storm surge and high winds ripped apart the pier sending the wooden planks two and three blocks into town. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
A wall with well wishes to Puerto Rico in the entrance of the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. Carmen Yulín Cruz, the city's mayor, stayed here for 2 months while it was being used as a shelter during the initial relief efforts after Hurricane Maria. She considers this building inspirational and makes this her preferred place to conduct city business as opposed to City Hall. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Churrasco con arroz mamposteao from The Wings Restaurant, Red Sox manager Alex Cora's favorite dish when he comes home to Caguas.(Jesse Costa/WBUR)Angelina Arroyo sprays her driveway down during a hot afternoon in Punta Santiago. Her husband had a heart attack shortly after the hurricane last year and died soon after. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Pozo Azul resident Yolanda Mienda fills a testing bag with water from the aquaduct. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)A mother and her two children are in front of a house destroyed by Maria on Calle 13 in Barrio Obrero, San Juan. Many residents on this street were relocated by the government and the houses left abandoned. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Four houses destroyed by Hurricane Maria on the same block on Calle 13 in Barrio Obrero, San Juan (Jesse Costa/WBUR)A pair of sneakers hangs from electrical wires on Av. Haydee Rexach in Barrio Obrero, San Juan. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)We revisit Carmen Orsario in Barrio Obrero after the roof and much of the second floor was torn off of her house during Maria. Renovations are nearly finished and she is almost ready to move back in. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Top: Oct. 11, 2017; Orsario's roof is being fitted with a tarp by contractors after Maria struck. Bottom: Sept. 19, 2018; the same view but now the renovations are almost complete. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Trash along the banks of the Cano de Martin Pena has been an ongoing problem for years and was only exacerbated by Hurricane Maria. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Ada Alvarez Córdova stands in her house in Guaynabo, where her belonging are piled into the center of rooms since water leaks in around perimeter walls. The roof and ceiling sustained damage during Maria and she says FEMA has rejected claims for assistance, despite never assessing the damage. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)A house in Guaynabo, which was completely leveled by Hurricane Maria, still sits in ruin one year after the storm. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Police stand outside the convention center during a conference held by the fiscal control board for Puerto Rico to manage a planned protest that never materialized. Residents are unhappy with austerity measures recommended by the board and the local government. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Pedro Adorno, front, and a portion of his Agua, Sol, y Sereno theater company rehearse a excerpt of their show,"Corazón de Papel: A Hurricane Story," a portrayal of the post-Maria disaster. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Luis Ramos rescues an iguana from being attacked by a street dog in Barrio-Bravos de Boston in Cantera, San Juan. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Jose Contreras saws a concrete block in half as he rebuilds his house in Barrio-Bravos de Boston, San Juan. The house was destroyed by Hurricane Maria a year ago. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)A worker at a pop-up car wash in Barrios-Bravos de Boston in San Juan walks around a car he is cleaning. Several people lost their jobs after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Unemployment remains high on the island and many are doing everything they can to make ends meet. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)A man flashes peace signs as he walks past a mural in Puetra de Tierra, one of the poorest areas in San Juan. Organizers are working to revitalize the neighborhood with a campaign that includes the slogan ‘AQUÍ VIVE GENTE’ - 'WE LIVE HERE.' (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Pigeons are perched along wires and a rooftop in San Juan. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)A man waits for an opportunity to grab his rooster as it's engaged in a fight with another rooster on a street in Toa Baja. Cockfighting is legal in Puerto Rico and is run by government-sponsored clubs around the island. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Jose Cruz points to a water line showing how high floodwaters had risen in his house during Maria. He fled to another location during the storm, but he is now building a second floor onto his house, for when the next severe storm causes flooding. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Contractors deliver and haul wooden timbers up to Jose Cruz's second floor addition. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Juana Alicea pours cups of orange juice to Indiana Medina and 3-year-old Kendra as they walk past her house on a hot day in Toa Baja. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Kendra, 3, reaches for pebbles on the ground to play with. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Marta Maria Hernandez feeds her dogs at her home in Toa Baja. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)It took six months for power to be restored in the Toa Baja area after Hurricane Maria. Here, Israel Figueroa shows an electric bill from Autoridad de Energia Electrica de Puerto Rico, which includes service charges for electricity in February and March 2018, even though power was not returned until April. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)We return to the lumberyard owned by Ivonne Beltran's family in Corozal that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. A year later, a sign on the fence announces a liquidation sale. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
This article was originally published on September 18, 2018.
