Hurricane Maria – Puerto Rico’s Struggle for Survival (2017)

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 5 storm, devastating the island with extreme winds, flooding, and landslides. The hurricane destroyed homes, roads, and nearly the entire electrical grid, plunging over 3 million people into darkness for months. The collapse of infrastructure triggered a prolonged humanitarian crisis. Hospitals struggled without reliable power, clean water became scarce, communication systems failed, and many isolated communities were cut off from aid. Although initial official death counts were low, later studies estimated that nearly 3,000 people may have died due to the storm and its aftermath. Maria exposed deep social, economic, and political vulnerabilities within Puerto Rico, including aging infrastructure and slow disaster response. Yet amid the collapse, local communities organized rescue efforts, shared resources, and supported one another through months of hardship. Hurricane Maria became more than a natural disaster—it revealed how fragile modern systems can become when extreme weather meets inequality, weak infrastructure, and delayed response.