It’s been four years since Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico. The Category 4 hurricane destroyed homes, power lines and roads, and left many without access to basic necessities like food, medicine, electricity and clean water. The storm forced many puertorriqueños to leave their homelands to start new lives in New England. And while leaving Puerto Rico for the continental U.S. is not a new trend, Maria exacerbated it: an estimated 135,000 people left the island since the storm and roughly 26,000 of them came to Connecticut and Massachusetts — trading the beauty of beaches and mountains in the middle for cold winters and the promise of stability. Los de Maria — the people of Maria — stayed in hotels, their children enrolled in schools, and now they live between two places. The island’s recovery is still not complete. And families are not done asking themselves, should we stay? Should we go back? Is this home? "Los de Maria: For Years After The Hurricane" is a special production by CT Public with support from the New England News Collaborative. A collection of photos from Puerto Rico can be seen here.
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