MARICAO, PUERTO RICO – Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, destroying the island’s infrastructure and stripping the landscape bare.
CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO – In the weeks following the storm, volunteers from the mainland organized their relief efforts to bring supplies to the island. Above, former Hartford city councilman Luis Cotto gives out supplies to residents who hadn’t yet seen any relief workers -- nearly four weeks after the hurricane hit.
SALINAS, PUERTO RICO – Water was also in short supply in many remote towns across the island. Danny Torres, (pictured above) of Meriden, Connecticut, joined a cohort of volunteers and veterans from Connecticut traveling the island with their own water purifying system to give residents clean water.
HUMACAO, PUERTO RICO – The hurricane first touched down on the eastern side of the island. Standing on top of one of the town’s highest peaks, Rosalina Abreú said this area was a shaded paradise before Maria. After the hurricane, she served hundreds of meals there for people in need.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – Thousands of Puerto Ricans fled the island to live with family in Connecticut. Guillermo Class (right) sold his car to fly his two sons back to the mainland. Above, he walks with his son Joemar (right) on his first day of school at Bulkeley High School.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – As winter in New England winter started to set in, many families displaced by Maria were in need of warmer clothing and other supplies. The bigger concern was finding a permanent place to live.
VALLE HILL, PUERTO RICO – On the island, the hurricane had exacerbated problems that predated the storm. Residents in Alberto Diaz’s neighborhood continually suffered flooding because their neighborhood was built in a federal wetland. But many residents there couldn’t get FEMA help after Maria because they didn’t have title for their properties.
CAYEY, PUERTO RICO – But an island can’t live Hurricane Maria 24 hours a day. In the town of Cayey, a non-profit opens its doors every weekend for people to sing, dance, and take a break from the ongoing recovery. When there was no electricity,, they used candles and lanterns to light the room.
Hurricane Maria tore through the island of Puerto Rico in September 2017 – taking out power lines, destroying homes, disrupting industries, raking the island’s forests, and displacing families.
Since then, Connecticut Public Radio’s reporters have covered the aftermath of the storm both from the mainland and from the island’s streets and mountains because – with 300,000 state residents who claim island roots – Hurricane Maria is a local story.
Click the markers in the map to see our stories by location.
Passengers from a direct flight from Bradley International Airport wait to pick up their checked baggage -- much of it cardboard boxes full of supplies -- in the San Juan Airport on October 16, 2017.
Jose Ayala lives in Villa del Rey, a housing development in Caguas. He said the small bag of supplies delivered by Luis Cotto were the first aid he's seen since the hurricane hit four weeks before.
Guillermo Class reunites with his two sons in the San Juan Airport. He sold his car to fly them back to Hartford.
Residents of Humacao take shelter from the sun under an umbrella. They say they've been in need of clean water since the hurricane.
A woman left homeless in Maricao, Puerto Rico after the storm holds her dog. Her son said she hadn’t let go of her dog since the storm it.
A large pile of brush and debris in Salinas, Puerto Rico. Volunteers from Connecticut traveled there to purify and filter water from the river for the town's residents.
Former Hartford City Councilman Luis Cotto speaks to a woman through her front gate in Cidra -- his family's hometown. He was there handing out solar lamps and water filters in October.
Maria Castro, a community leader in Humacao, speaks to Angel Rodriguez. Residents here say they've been in need of clean water since the hurricane.
Paloma Ortiz (left) is a nurse who’s been offering volunteer health care to residents of the Valle Hill neighborhood in Canovanas.
Luis Edgardo Cotto hands out water filters and solar lamps in Caguas. Residents said these are the first supplies they've received since Maria hit.
Remnants of a mudslide along along a mountain road on the west side of the island.
Houses in Humacao, Puerto Rico -- the part of the island where the hurricane first made landfall.
Ron Spellman of Canton, Connecticut -- who’s served in the U.S. Coast Guard and now is in the Air Force Reserves, sets up a hose to pump water from a river in Salinas, Puerto Rico to a purifying tank. U.S. Army veteran Pablo Soto works the pump in the background.
Trees stripped of foliage in the mountain town of Cidra on October 17, 2017.
Frederico Segarra Camachu is 96 years old and lives in Mericao, Puerto Rico. He said that he never saw a storm like Hurricane Maria hit the island. His main concern is access to water: “I don’t need electricity to fall asleep,” he said.
The top of one of Humacao's highest mountain peaks, left barren by the storm.
Alejandro La Luz Rivera returned to Puerto Rico after going to Pennsylvania because he didn't want to leave the home he and his wife built together.
Blanca Ortiz-Torres is a psychologist and a professor at the University of Puerto Rico. She came with a team of doctors, nurses and psychologists to Maricao to provide medical care to people left homeless by the hurricane.
Playa Punta Santiago in Humacao, Puerto Rico.
A street in Maricao, one of the smallest towns in Puerto Rico.
Ray Guasp served in the Marines. Now, in Puerto Rico, he’s part of a small group of self-deployed volunteers from Connecticut.
Luis Colon (left), a taxi driver and a student in psychology speaks with a resident of Maricao, Puerto Rico (right). Colon said Hurricane Maria made it easier for Puerto Ricans to see more about themselves.
Abigail Ruiz and her family broke into an abandoned school in Maricao, Puerto Rico when part of their home’s roof blew off during the hurricane. They now live there, and the rest of the school is being converted into a shelter.
Angel Rodriguez in his San Juan apartment. He's been picking up packages delivered here from the mainland and delivering supplies to residents on the east side of the island.
Abigail Ruiz stands with one of her sons in the shade of a covered basketball court in Maricao, Puerto Rico.
On one of Humacao's highest mountain peaks, a local organization has been handing out hundreds of free meals since the storm.
The view from the top of one of Humacao's highest peaks.
Former Hartford City Councilman Luis Cotto demonstrates how to set up an inflatable solar lamp to residents of Villa del Rey in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
Danny Torres has worked for the fire department in Meriden, Connecticut for decades and has family across Puerto Rico. He joined a group of volunteers to bring clean water to residents across the island.
The Island Next Door is a reporting project that came out of the recognition that Hurricane Maria was a distant storm with a local impact.
Begun in the WNPR newsroom, this project aims to tell the stories that link New England and Puerto Rico — finding the people, places, successes and challenges on the island and the mainland today.
2nd place Connecticut Society for Professional Journalists awards for video essay and continuing coverage.